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Thailand's Capital Is Sinking Into The Earth At An Alarming Rate


cavanami
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...the doom and gloom thread...

 

Thailand's capital is sinking into the Earth at an alarming rate

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/thailands-capital-is-sinking-into-the-earth-at-an-alarming-rate-2015-7

 

Thailand’s capital is both glitzy and gritty, a city of glass towers and cement hovels teeming with nearly 10 million people.

 

All that steel and concrete and humanity sits on what was once marshland. The ground beneath is spongy and moist. Imagine a brick resting on top of a birthday cake. That’s Bangkok — and it’s sinking into the Earth at an alarming rate.

 

Thailand’s disaster specialists have been warning of this coming calamity for years. One expert has said he’s “worried about Bangkok resembling Atlantis.†Another previously told GlobalPost that the city will be under five feet of water by 2030.

 

Previous estimates showed that Bangkok is sinking more than three inches per year. But newer data suggests the rate is closer to four inches per year.

 

The predictions for 2100 are even more dire. By then, Bangkok will be fully submerged and unlivable.

 

Like global warming, which will accelerate the city’s submersion by raising the sea level, Bangkok’s sinking woes are repeatedly shrugged off. Thailand’s military and civilian rulers alike tend to obsess over immediate concerns (namely power, prestige and money) and keep punting the problem along.

But the monsoon season, currently underway, tends to bring this crisis to mind.

 

A nasty storm can suddenly turn Bangkok’s streets into gushing streams. Sewers overflow, taxis churn through fetid water and, occasionally, kids can scoop up displaced fish wriggling above the asphalt. Four years ago, during a particularly severe flood, GlobalPost found families in neck-deep waters on their second-story balconies...

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In my old neighbourhood, Sriyan, the shops that had been there for decades are about one foot below the pavement. They had to put in a step so that customers wouldn't stumble when they came in. The owner of a shoe shop on Samsen Road told me his family had been in there since the 1940s, when the trams used to pass by. He said the road had to be build up periodically to keep it from flooding at the least rainfall. Even now it floods in every heavy rain.

 

You don't suppose building all those high rises on muddy ground could have something to do with it, do you? Nah, greed is good!

 

P.s. When I came to LOS, the tallest buildings were the Dusit Thani Hotel, the U-chaliang Building, and the Narai Hotel. Most buildings topped off at four storeys. Nowadays, it's a wonder Bangkok doesn't flip the earth over on its axis, it's so top heavy.

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I have to say that I am highly skeptical about two claims: that ocean levels are rising, and that Bangkok is sinking. For more than ten years, I have passed over the Sukhumvit Road bridge that spans the Prakhanong canal almost every day. There are homes built on a finger of land that extends toward the bridge on the south side of the road. That finger has a retaining wall - maybe 70 cm high. I have seen no change whatsoever to water levels - even when nearby Soi 50 was flooding slightly, during high tides back when the big flood was in progress up north of Bangkok.

 

What is true is that in many places throughout Bangkok, what were once canals and swamps were filled in with rubble, and garbage, and wood, and then paved over and built upon - either roads, or housing developments - and the crap underneath has compressed and compacted - and this "settling" has damaged a lot of roads and low buildings. But - all the high-rises seems to be built on foundations that have been placed atop pilings, that presumably go down to bedrock. They were sinking pilings at what are now Terminal 21, Interchange Tower, and Em Quartier for YEARS, before they ever started above ground construction.

 

I think all the talk about Bangkok being under water in 15 years - or even 50 years - is rubbish.

 

One man's opinion.

 

Cheers!

SS .

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Mekong -

 

You seem to have professional qualifications in the general topic area. Do you have any thoughts about whether "Bangkok is sinking", and about whether "rising sea levels" are a threat to Bangkok over the next 15-35 years?

 

I have zero faith in the main steam press, but I will listen to someone who actually gets their hands dirty in the "real deal" work at hand.

 

SS

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SS

 

As I stated in the referenced thread Geotechnical surveys and Civil works is not my field of expertise but as Project Manager I need some sort of understanding of the the work my specialist engineers on the team do know their shit about

 

As you have correctly observed most (I won't say all) of high rises constructed / under construction are built using a solid foundation on top of well engineered pilings and as such lateral subsidence will not occur, the "Oh! The Tower Blocks of Bangkok are Sinking" cry is a total myth, Baiyoke Tower II was 328.4 M tall in 1997 and is still 328.4 M tall in 2015. Test piles are driven during Geotechnical survey with forces 300% greater of final load applied and if subsidence is >2MM they drive piles deeper.

 

Rising Sea Levels, this applies to any coastal area in the world, if the sea level rises 1MM in BKK it will rise 1MM in HK, NYC and Sydney simple law of Physics. Now the rate of rising Sea Levels (if any) is open to conjecture and not an argument / discussion I want to get involved in, basically BKK will be no better or no worse off than any other coastal area in the world.

 

Coastal Erosion, this is where BKK is more susceptible, since the sub strata is predominately deep soft clay it is more susceptible to Coastal / Soil erosion than somewhere with a shallower lying bedrock strata which can, and is, being countered by shore line protection which is an ongoing project by BMA all along the Chao Phraya.

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http://www.sv.eng.chula.ac.th/index.php/Land-Subsidence

 

Subsidence in Bangkok has already been recognised for several decades. Groundwater extraction and construction, both as results of urbanization and industrialization, are thought to be the main causes. The monitoring of Bangkok subsidence from leveling commenced in 1978 and has been carried out on an annual basis by the Royal Thai Survey Department (RTSD). Most studies are based on the data of this RTSD leveling network (RTSD-Net) but their main focus is on the relationship between subsidence and groundwater extraction rather than the assessment of subsidence rates.

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Long Beach, California had a similar problem due to the drilling for oil nearby. The ground was subsiding into the areas that had had the oil removed. Long Beach got around this by stopping the drilling and pumping water down to replace the lost oil. I doubt if Bangkok can do anything like that.

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...the doom and gloom thread...

 

Thailand's capital is sinking into the Earth at an alarming rate

 

 

Thailand’s disaster specialists have been warning of this coming calamity for years. One expert has said he’s “worried about Bangkok resembling Atlantis.â€

 

 

I'm pretty sure the correct ancient-world references are Sodom and Gomorrah, not Atlantis...

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