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Water festival scaled down in Thailand due to record drought
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Thailand’s Songkran water festival will be scaled down in Bangkok this year as the country experiences its worst drought in decades, a report said today.

Songkran celebrations will be cut from four days to three days in Bangkok and water splashing will only be allowed until 9pm, Channel 7 News reported.

“The celebrations in Bangkok will only take place on April 12-14,” Bangkok deputy governor Amon Kitchawengkul told reporters. “We are scaling back the celebrations to show respect because many provinces in Thailand are experiencing severe drought.”

According to statistics provided by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation yesterday, 4,355 villages throughout the country are being classified as disaster areas due to the ongoing drought.

The department said that many of these villages are having to rely on military trucks to supply their daily water needs.

Songkran is a festival that marks the start of the Thai New Year. It is usually accompanied by city-wide waterfights and merit-making at temples.

- dpa

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