Sukhothai Historical Park has been well protected from heavy rainfall. (Photo by Fine Arts Department)

 

The Fine Arts Department is on high alert and working around the clock to save the country’s historical parks from heavy rainfall caused by the recent Tropical Storm Dianmu.

 

To safeguard historical buildings and cultural relics, barriers have been built along the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya province, 80 kilometers north of Bangkok.

 

Meanwhile, in the northeast, soldier and volunteers have been working day and night shoring up defenses with sandbags and using high-powered pumps to drain water from the Phimai Historical Park. The 11th-century Khmer ruins have been submerged by floodwater caused by the storm and exacerbated by extreme monsoon downpours.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/fine-arts-department-ramps-up-efforts-to-save-the-countrys-historical-parks-from-floods/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-09-30

 

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A shame to hear this and I hope they can save as much as possible.

 

We went to Phimai Historical Park in March last year when of course it was very hot and dry so it seems stabbed that it's now so wet. 

Same story every year. Same result, do very little when it is too late. Why can't they build defence walls during the good weather ?  No, that's not the way Thai logic works.

I worked with the Fine Arts Department and other agencies after the 2011 flood to document a an historical Wat restoration project in Pathum Thani.  That went fine and well, and even received financial help from international agencies. It took a year for the restoration. At the end of it, we discovered that the roads around the project were being raised by 1.5 meters to control for the next flood. Alas, that renovation also acted to place the Wat into what would be a lake during even more minor flooding. If flooding is anything this year like it was in 2011, this time the entire grounds will be destroyed. No coordination among the civic authorities.