The Director of a leading Thai research institute has warned that if preventive steps are not taken, large areas of Bangkok’s inner city and suburbs will be submerged within 10 years affecting nearly 700,000 people and causing an estimated damage of 150 biliion baht.
Pattaya Daily News 16 Dec 10;
Bangkok 16th December 2010 (PDN) : According to Mr. Seri Suparatit of the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Bangkok will be one of 9 cities in Asia to be affected by severe flooding. In an interview conducted on 16th December, he said the combination of several factors will cause water levels to rise, submerging large areas of the inner city and suburbs within a decade.
Certain areas of the city including Klongteoy-Donmeung, Thonburi, Lat Phrao and Bang Khun Thian are particularly vulnerable and could incur an economic loss of 150 billion baht.
The Environmental Park had received funding from the World Bank to carry out a detailed risk assessment, following a case study by the Economic Advisory Council of the European Union, World Bank, World Vision Foundation and the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change (IPCC) which found that 9 Asian cities would be susceptible to severe flooding in the near future. The nine cities are Guangdong, Shanghai, Dhaka, Calcuttar, Mumbai, Rangoon, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok.
The factors that pose a threat to Bangkok are a 5% increase in rainfall, land subsidence of 4 mm per year, a rise in sea level of 1.3 cm per year, an increased inflow of water from the North, and a failure of urban planning which has resulted in a 50% decrease in water absorbing wetlands and green areas in the city over the last 30 years.
Some 680,000 of the city’s population will be affected, together with 1.16 million buildings, 900,000 of these being residential. One-third of them will be in the area of Bang Khun Thian, Bang Bon, Bang Kae and Samutprakarn. Also, about 89,000 buildings in Donmeung area will be affected.
When asked by reporters if a way has been found to avoid the flooding, Mr. Seri said the World Bank had already received the results of the research and submitted a report to the former Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayothin, but no action had been taken.
The research suggested that the following measures should be taken : 1. Search for and put aside areas of land in Northern Bangkok for so-called “Monkey Cheeks”, or water retention areas. 2. Expand the drainage canals. 3. Build a five-metre-high barrier along 80km of the coast to protect the capital (a measure already implemented by Vietnam).
Mr. Seri said that as yet he had seen no serious plan to prepare people to cope with the severe impact of the situation. “Without any prevention plan, we may have to use our ground floors for keeping boats”, he said.
