SBS News in Easy English 7 October 2022
The Prime Minister of Thailand has ordered authorities to investigate fatal attack at a childcare centre which has left at least 38 people dead.
There is speculation that drugs could be behind the killings because the former police officer responsible had just appeared in court on narcotics charges.
World leaders and ministers have also paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Australia's education minister Jason Clare has told Channel 7 the situation is horrific .
"Can you think of anything worse? I guess every mum and dad packing bags today for their children to go off to care will be hugging them a lot tighter this morning. I got a phone call from my centre yesterday afternoon saying can you come and pick up your little one, he's got a temperature and a runny nose. That's the sort of call you want to get. Can you imagine those mums and dads in Thailand and that phone call?"
Authorities have pleaded with residents to not drive through floodwaters as wet weather continues on Australia's east coast.
State Emergency Services across Victoria and New South Wales have carried out multiple rescues over the last 24 hours, with five water rescues and 181 calls for assistance in Victoria alone.
New South Wales deputy police commissioner Mal Lanyon says people need to be careful.
"It wasn't very long ago we had a five year old boy not far from here who was killed, drowned in a car that was washed off a bridge. You can imagine how devastating that is for that family. It's a terribly hard way to learn a lesson for society, but let's learn the lesson. Let's not let that happen again... Don't drive into water. You don't know what's under it. You don't know how fast it's flowing."
Three school students have been killed during a flood in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
The children died when a wall weakened by floodwaters surging into Jakarta Islamic Junior High 19 collapsed on top of them.
The deluge is the latest in a series of floods to hit the city over the last few days.
Indonesia frequently suffers floods and landslides, particularly during the rainy season from November to March.
There is a growing humanitarian crisis in Haiti as health services come under increasing strain.
At least eight people have died in the latest outbreak of cholera, while hospitals have been forced to cut back staff and critical services.
Aid agencies are finding the situation a challenge to address as looters target the stock of United Nations agencies.
World Food Program [[W-F-P]] Executive Director Valerie Guarneiri says around $6 million in relief supplies have been lost.
"Over the course of one week, WFP in Haiti lost one third of our food stocks as two of our four warehouses were deliberately targeted, looted and pillaged. These contained well over 2000 metric tons of food that could have supported over 218,000 of the most vulnerable women and men, girls and boys. Other U.N. agencies and NGOs also saw their offices and warehouses looted."
Rescuers are attempting to free two whales that have become entangled in a shark net off a beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Queensland's authorities have confirmed the Marine Animal Rescue Team is involved in the rescue of the animals at Wurtulla, who are believed to be a mother and her calf.
Humane Society International marine biologist Lawrence Chlebeck says the current migration season has so far involved around double the number of entanglements that have been seen in previous years.
