Bangkok: Will the "Venice of the East" disappear under the sea in 30 years!?

[webfact]

Bangkok: Will  the "Venice of the East" disappear under the sea in 30 years!?

 

 

It is one of the oldest of old chestnuts in the Thai media that is reported every rainy season. 

 

Will Bangkok, the capital of Thailand for almost 250 years, disappear under the sea? 

 

Some say that Krung Thep, as the Thais call Bangkok, will be gone in 30 years. 

 

Others are prepared to believe that human technology can save the city from a watery grave - or at least the majority of it. 

 

 

Thai media ThaiPBS visited the topic as flooding once again caused misery to millions in the city. 

 

Posing the question as to whether the city will disappear they admitted that no one is really sure. 

 

Climate change causing rising sea levels is adding to the long-standing fears. 

 

Old problems remain largely unaddressed including the fact that much of Bangkok is under sea level, in some places as much as 2 meters. 

 

Concreting of vast swathes of the metro area and the effect of ground water changes has left great damage and great challenges alike for engineers battling to preserve the capital. 

 

While there are yet no plans to move the Thai capital that cannot be said of Jakarta in Indonesia that already has plans to move. 

 

 

Named "The Venice of the East" because of its thousands of kilometers of canals or klongs, the city's poetic sounding name may yet come to be a permanent and distinct reality - not just a playful moniker during the rainy season. 

 

The capital was moved to a strategic bend in the river by Rama 1 in 1782 after Thonburi on the other side of the river was named the capital following the glory days of Ayutthaya. 

 

Source: Thai PBS

 

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[tonray]

Well from the recent amnesty threads at least 50% of the expats staying here are already underwater...ha ha ha ha

[Antiparovian]

Use submarines as public transport

 

[thaibeachlovers]

What is so hard about building a stop bank? They already know how to do it, and they know how to use pumps to drain the canals into the river. It's not as though Bkk isn't rich enough to do it.

 

Perhaps they should stop pumping water out from underneath Bkk which is why the city is sinking.

[Radar501]

Bangkok is sinking under the weight of Its full name:

 

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

[LukKrueng]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Krung Thep, as the Thais call Bangkok

They put it in a way that sounds like Bangkok is the real name and the Thai people call it Krung Thep by mistake....

[LawrenceN]

Just like "the Venice of the West," aka Venice. 

[micmichd]

7 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

Just like "the Venice of the West," aka Venice. 

Then have a look at the "Venice of the North" aka Amsterdam. The Dutch found a way to build a city in water. 

[JonnyF]

They'll wait until the last minute, until it's almost at catastrophic levels and then they'll fix it - kind of. 

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, tonray said:

Well from the recent amnesty threads at least 50% of the expats staying here are already underwater...ha ha ha ha

Expats here on real Extensions of Stay's or Tourists that should have left and returned when they had more funds.  Choose wisely Grasshopper.

 

The flooding of the streets in Bangkok is caused because of the amount of trash that is thrown on the ground instead of in the trash and is then washed into the drains where it clogs up the pipes.  If there were garbage cans placed outside it might help, but then who would pay for the refuse to be picked up.

[Benmart]

46 minutes ago, LukKrueng said:

They put it in a way that sounds like Bangkok is the real name and the Thai people call it Krung Thep by mistake....

To a majority of the worlds airlines, hotel search engines, maps and other references, it isn't listed as Krung Thep. Call it what one may, it is the same place, by no mistake.

[DrTuner]

One can hope. A large part of Thai political problems are due to centralization of power in BKK.

[mrfill]

1 hour ago, micmichd said:

Then have a look at the "Venice of the North" aka Amsterdam. The Dutch found a way to build a city in water. 

Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice. And its a city. And its nowhere near the coast.

[Cake Monster]

Bangkok will disappear under a Mountain of Trash and Sewage well before then

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Named "The Venice of the East" because of its thousands of kilometers of canals or klongs, the city's poetic sounding name may yet come to be a permanent and distinct reality

Well it's got the same smell so I guess the flooding will follow soon enough.

Will it survive with "win gondoliers" ?

[GreasyFingers]

We had some people from Bangkok, that believe this story, looking for land up here. Even though the adjoining neighbor is thinking of selling I told the wife not to tell these people. If they are that stupid we do not want them for neighbors.

[digger70]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Bangkok: Will  the "Venice of the East" disappear under the sea in 30 years!?

Take Note of our Old country the Netherlands. You want to keep your Feet Dry Built Dykes.

There are Thousands of jobs to be available to People Who Want to Work.

[patman30]

no,

this nonsense was also fed to us decades ago in school
30 years later my hometown is miraculously still there

[jobsworth]

4 hours ago, LukKrueng said:

They put it in a way that sounds like Bangkok is the real name and the Thai people call it Krung Thep by mistake....

Krung Thep is the Khmer name which predates the existence of Siam.

 

[3NUMBAS]

its well known bangers will be under water ..reason the uk embassy was flogged off quickly at top of the market as the capital will need to be moved to higher ground

[micmichd]

23 minutes ago, jobsworth said:

Krung Thep is the Khmer name which predates the existence of Siam.

 

Historically it is the name of the Rattankosin Island, the klong area of Bangkok, and it means "City of Angels" 

Ever been there? 

[Penicillin]

I’ll have to re-think buying that condo on Sukhumvit now....or at least get an upper level floor with docking privileges. 

[KhaoNiaw]

3 hours ago, jobsworth said:

Krung Thep is the Khmer name which predates the existence of Siam.

 

No it isn't. 

[Justgrazing]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Will Bangkok, the capital of Thailand for almost 250 years, disappear under the sea? 

Too many heavy buildings .. they need to knock all those skyscrapers down , bore holes in the pavements then pump some air in .. once it's come back up just pump a load of that expanding foam in to fill the gap ( probably need a few cans of that though ) sorted .. thank me later Bangkokers ..

[Redline]

The only reason they can’t solve the problem is corruption, and failure to enlist experts from outside 

[scammed]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Climate change causing rising sea levels is adding to the long-standing fears.

fear not

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nils-Axel_Moerner

 

 

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323685720_Sea_Level_Changes_enigma_threat_or_just_as_observed

Abstract

The Global sea level is presently changing at rates ranging from ±0.0 mm/yr (in the Maldives, Goa India, Bangladesh, Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, northeast South America, Venice, etc) to a rise of 1.0 ±0.1 mm/yr (the North Sea, Kattegatt, the Baltic, northeast USA, etc) [1-5]. This poses not threats for low-lying coasts and islands. There are no signs of any acceleration. By 2100 sea level is likely to rise only in the order of 5 cm ±15 cm.

[Thechook]

I don't get the Venice of the East bit.

[Stargeezr]

Actually Bangkok is many river miles from the ocean, and though it is not that far above the actual

level of the ocean,  there are many many rice fields between most the city and the golf of Thailand.

  I think that more people should look out the airliners windows when you fly about Thailand or

fly into or out of Thailand.  There are also high areas and low areas in the city so if your are

buying a condo, buy from the 2nd floor or higher and you should be okay for your lifetime.

Geezer

[Reigntax]

On 9/29/2020 at 5:49 PM, Radar501 said:

Bangkok is sinking under the weight of Its full name:

 

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Try saying that when you are pi$$ed !!

Or sober !!

[LukKrueng]

On 9/29/2020 at 7:48 PM, jobsworth said:

Krung Thep is the Khmer name which predates the existence of Siam.

 

Don't think so.

From Wikipedia:

 Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, which is colloquially further shortened to Krung Thep. (Krung is a Thai word of Khmer origin, meaning 'capital',^[20] while thep is from Pali/Sanskrit, meaning 'deity' or 'god' and corresponding to deva.