Volunteer leader Poramate Minsiri apologised profusely for being late for the interview, but was insistent that he had absolutely no regrets for abandoning the flood-relief operations in Don Mueang Airport two weeks ago.

"It was the right decision. In the end, even the Flood Relief Operations Centre [FROC] couldn't stay at Don Mueang," he said, adding that the agency might have to abandon its new headquarters at the Energy Complex soon due to rising water levels.

However, it wasn't the flooding of the airport that made Poramate decide to leave. He and his fellow volunteers chose to quit because they were disappointed with the way FROC was being run, and their complaints were widely reported by the media.

Their key complaints were that the operations weren't being led by the right man, the red-shirt MPs were given preferential treatment in terms of the allocation of relief goods, tweets from @thaiflood were being censored and no volunteers were made part of any FROC committees. Also, before leaving Don Mueang Airport two weeks ago, he warned that the government's ineptitude was making things worse.

"This disaster is far too large for the government to handle alone," Poramate insisted. "The committees should involve all sectors, not just the government."

Also, neighbourly relations between Poramate, leader of volunteers under the Red Sunday Group, and Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, president of the Mirror Foundation, seem to have cooled off after the former walked out on FROC.

"We're not of the same [political] colour," Poramate confessed, though he insisted that things between him and Sombat were still amicable. "But things could have been better."

Poramate, who is regarded as a feel-good, multi-colour royalist by his critics, surprised me when he said he was not a yellow, multi-colour or white shirt, adding that he disapproved of the multi-coloured shirts' confrontational tactics and that he quite liked the red shirts' political philosophy.

"Deep down I think I like the red-shirt ideas better, but I didn't join the movement because some politicians are using the idea as a front to mobilise people."

Besides running the Open Care Foundation and the @thaiflood Twitter site, which has attracted more than 97,000 followers, far more than any of the government tweeting sites, Poramate also operates a number of volunteer training centres including one in Bangkok's Phaholyothin Road and one in Chon Buri. At the centres, volunteers are taught to make EM balls that can be used to prevent water from getting polluted, as well as rafts and life-vests from plastic drinking water bottles. The centres also produce flood alarms that go off when the water begins to rise.

"I think ordering people [to evacuate] at 11pm is cruel," he said, referring to the time some warnings had been issued by FROC and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

Even though his group has attracted plenty of volunteers and donations - amounting to about Bt3 million with Bt900,000 left in a bank account that can be transparently monitored on the Internet - Poramate admits that in order to win this battle all volunteer groups and government agencies must cooperate to avoid redundancy and duplication.

Asked if he would throw his hands up in defeat in the coming weeks, Poramate was quick to promise that nothing like this would happen.

While saying that he needed more volunteers, he also very diplomatically decided not to criticise those who choose not to volunteer or donate. "It's their right," he said, adding that volunteer work does not result in tangible results.

So why become a volunteer?

"The economy is badly hit and we should get up and do something about it. We won't know how much we can do unless we do it."

A Bangkok native from an "ordinary background", the 42-year-old studied industrial engineering at Chulalongkorn University and credits his parents for providing him with the best education they could afford.

With the interview nearing an end, I asked Poramate if he had any advice for the public or thoughts about Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

"All I want is to tell people not to argue," he said, adding that all the mistakes being committed by politicians and officials are being documented. "We should use this time to help people, and even if I am critical, it is not out of hatred but out of a desire to see change.

"As for the prime minister, she can't be blamed. I don't think she wanted this [flood disaster] to happen," he said. "Don't expect too much but try to help [her] instead. As for the Bangkok governor, I think we will have to choose someone who has better abilities in the next elections."

Donations can be made to the Open Care Foundation, Siam Commercial Bank savings account number 402-177-853-3. Details of all donations received and used can be viewed online at www.opencare.org. The group can also be contacted at the ground floor of the Asset Management Corporation, Phaholyothin Soi 3.