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King calls on state agencies to tackle coastal erosion |
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Written by Bangkok Post
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Tuesday, 09 January 2007 |
His Majesty the King has expressed concern over severe costal erosion
in southern Thailand and asked state agencies to devise a long-term
plan to save the shrinking shorelines.
The King is especially worried about the situation in provinces facing
the Gulf of Thailand, where sea waves are currently as high as two to
four metres and have become so ferocious that they have sunk fishing
boats and eroded many beaches.
His concern was reported by Sompon Panmani, secretary-general
of the special committee coordinating royally-initiated projects, after
meeting with state agencies to find ways to solve the problem, which is
posing a nightmare to hundreds of villagers living along more than
100km of coastline in the South.
"The King is worried about the strong sea waves in the
eastern coast," Mr Sompon said. The King's private work division under
the Royal Household Bureau has been assigned to survey damage and to
plan for long-term solutions.
Mr Sompon said the Marine Department would this year start
building a sea wall to shield the severely-hit coastline from sea
waves.
Under its 365 million baht project, the wall will stretch
from Ban Saton in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Hua Sai district to Ban Na Kote
in Pak Phanang district.
The department is also conducting a study on a plan to expand
the wall from Ban Na Kote to tambon Laem Talumphuk in Pak Phanang
district. The cape is losing 20 metres of land to the sea every year,
according to a recent study by Chulalongkorn University.
Strong sea waves and winds continued to hit the South over
the weekend, with four fishing boats sunk and beaches in Songkhla
damaged.
Officials said waves as high as two to four metres slammed
Kao Seng and Samila beaches in Songkhla, forcing seaside communities to
put down several thousand sandbags to prevent the waves from causing
further damage to their houses and nearby roads.
In Narathiwat, police managed to help more than 20 crew
members of four fishing boats which were sunk near Naratat Bay by
strong waves on Sunday night. Only two of the crew members had minor
injuries.
Its governor Karan Supakitwileikakan has asked marine police
and soldiers to station themselves in Bang Nara river so that they
could immediately give help to boats encountering strong sea waves.
Up to 1,800 fishing boats in the province are currently staying ashore to avoid the bad weather conditions.
The Meteorology Department has warned small fishing boats
against sailing out to sea from Jan 8 to 10 due to strong winds and sea
waves.
Southern provinces are facing fierce weather conditions,
including heavy rainfall in Surat Thani and nearby provinces. They are
caused by a new round of cold weather from China.
The existing low pressure over Malaysia and southern Thailand is also causing rain in many areas.
Surat Thani governor Niwat Sawatkaew yesterday warned
villagers living in areas prone to landslides, including those on Samui
and Phangan resort islands, to brace for rain.
There are at least 149 risk areas in the province.
Surapol Krishnamra, chief of the Marine and Coastal Resources
Department's coastal area management section, said a recent study found
that around 600km, or 22.5% of the country's total shoreline has been
severely hit by coast erosion, which eats up to five to 20 metres of
land per year.
The official also warned of possible negative impacts of seawall construction against the strong waves.
He said agencies which plan to build sea walls against the
waves should carefully study the projects' impacts because they could
change the directions of sea waves, which would in turn cause erosion
in nearby areas.
"Marine ecology is sensitive. It is better to learn how to
avoid natural hazards than to fight against them by constructing sea
walls along the coastline," he said.
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