Some of their more remote settlements have suffered, of course.
Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements.
Some remote settlements offered only four-year primary schools, after which students transferred to a central eight-year school.
There is also money to connect remote settlements to the internet, again powered with solar electricity.
As the largest city in the area, it provides services for these remote settlements.
Don has been living in Thailand for the past five years and goes to a remote settlement to pick up a shipment of cocaine.
Rescue teams were unable to reach some remote settlements today, Tass said.
They are usually used to serve remote coastal settlements in the territory's outlying islands.
Most of the government buildings were on hill tops, overlooking the remote indigenous settlements.
There are a few tiny, remote settlements in the far north with a population of just 10-20 people who live from hunting seals.