Another Landslide in Phuket! Nine Houses Buried, Residents Flee in Panic

[webfact]

Picture courtesy: Amarin TV

 

Another landslide has struck Phuket, burying nine houses under mud, water, and debris from the mountain with a thunderous noise like a lightning strike. Panicked residents fled for their lives, but fortunately, no one was injured.

 

At 5:30 a.m. on August 28, 2024, Police Lieutenant Colonel Sakon Krai-nara, Deputy Superintendent (Investigation) of Phuket City Police Station, received a report from the 191 emergency hotline about a landslide that had damaged several homes in Thep Buri Village (Ban Kuku) in Ratsada Sub-district, Mueang District. The police were asked to inspect the scene.

 

After receiving the report, the lieutenant immediately informed Police Colonel Prateuang Pholmana, Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station. He, along with officials from the Municipal Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department of Ratsada Sub-district and staff from the Kusoldharm Foundation Phuket, rushed to the scene.

 

Upon arrival, they found residents, who were the homeowners and occupants of the affected village, standing outside their homes amidst continuous rain that had been falling for several hours.

A preliminary inspection revealed that nine two-story commercial buildings were damaged. Officers discovered that the soil at the back of the buildings was still making cracking noises. For safety reasons, the homeowners and residents were initially evacuated from the buildings as the saturated soil posed a risk of further landslides.

 

Mrs. Kanyarat Chakrawatee, 45, a homeowner who had just moved in 13 days earlier and was still settling in, recounted, "At around 5:00 a.m., we were all sleeping downstairs since we had just moved in. I heard a loud crash, so I turned on the light and saw water flowing from the kitchen. I tried to get everyone out, but the water kept coming because it was still raining. We were waiting to have the air conditioning installed upstairs, so we hadn't moved up there yet. The upstairs room was blocked by soil, so we couldn't open the door."

 

Mr. Nop, another homeowner, said, "Water from the mountain came crashing down, bringing soil and mud because there were no trees on the mountain. There used to be trees, but they were removed, so the soil couldn't retain water.

 

It's been almost a year since the trees were removed. My house is at the end of the alley. It was only slightly damaged on the roof, while other houses were more severely affected. I heard a loud noise at first and thought it was a lightning strike. When I came out to look, everyone was already standing at the entrance of the village."

 

-- 2024-08-28

 

 

Get the ASEAN NOW daily NEWSLETTER - Click HERE to subscribe

[JoePai]

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

[Cabradelmar]

Overbuilding on already slippery slopes will only make this problem worse.

[BaslerBebbi]

Yes. No threes. But the superb land engineers here don‘t understand this. Only money is important 

[dpeti73]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

Expand  

Exactly just look at the hillside all around cut out everything and build villas....

 

[newbee2022]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

Expand  

I think it's not too difficult to come to a conclusion. What do YOU think??🤗

[Ironmike]

Let's cut down all the trees to put the money into corrupt officials pockets who cares if people die just as long as they make more money,, lock them all up

[Old Croc]

Is the elevation restriction for development in Phuket still in effect?

[Zack61]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

Expand  

For sure. Mother Nature doesn’t like being denuded. She can be a bitch if you treat her poorly. I’m not sure what geotechnical strategy was employed to mitigate the chances of a landslide but it obviously wasn’t enough. 

[Classic Ray]

Similar problems due to deforestation affect the Philippines as well as many other countries. But people don’t learn and think of long term consequences when there is quick money to be made.

[smew]

people realize there might be an issue, but it will not happen to us, just like smoking, no I will not get cancer 

[kuzmabruk]

  On 8/28/2024 at 5:24 AM, dpeti73 said:

Exactly just look at the hillside all around cut out everything and build villas....

 

Expand  

We will be like Samui soon.  Wall to wall houses on hillsides (Thais call them mountains)

[ronster]

  On 8/28/2024 at 6:07 AM, kuzmabruk said:

We will be like Samui soon.  Wall to wall houses on hillsides (Thais call them mountains)

Expand  

Has happened already over the years but luckily not too big. So far !!!! 

[Gandtee]

  On 8/28/2024 at 5:42 AM, Old Croc said:

Is the elevation restriction for development in Phuket still in effect?

Expand  

I was about to ask the same question. Here in Sattahip there are strict laws banning building on hillsides at a certain level. But that law still seems to be broken occasionally. But then....

[MalcolmB]

Global warming brings heavier storms.

This is the new reality. 

[Chongalulu]

”Treemendous”...

[Udom]

  On 8/28/2024 at 5:49 AM, Zack61 said:

geotechnical strategy was employed to mitigate the chances of a landslide

Expand  

You’re kidding, right?

The only strategy employed was the “money flow regulation” to go exactly where they wanted: their own pockets…

[10baht]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

Expand  

Let's be honest and blame it on global warming.555

[hotchilli]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:10 AM, webfact said:

Mr. Nop, another homeowner, said, "Water from the mountain came crashing down, bringing soil and mud because there were no trees on the mountain. There used to be trees, but they were removed, so the soil couldn't retain water.

Expand  

And there you have it...

[Moncul]

  On 8/28/2024 at 5:42 AM, Old Croc said:

Is the elevation restriction for development in Phuket still in effect?

Expand  

Yes, and foreigners can't own land, etc..

😂

[Presnock]

  On 8/28/2024 at 5:49 AM, Zack61 said:

For sure. Mother Nature doesn’t like being denuded. She can be a bitch if you treat her poorly. I’m not sure what geotechnical strategy was employed to mitigate the chances of a landslide but it obviously wasn’t enough. 

Expand  

years ago on one of the islands south of Manila, with a port town with a river from the mountainside where they were logging, at about 2AM one morning in a storm, the cut logs had washed into the river  and clogged it up so it formed into a huge dam.  At that moment, the logs broke loose which allowed a WALL of water several meters tall to wash down the river and engulf the town.  I think the total deaths were somewhere between 5000 to 7500 but all were washed away!  Denuded mountains in heavy rains are known to have big landslides.  Just look around the world today!.

[kwilco]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

Expand  

what do you think?

 

[kwilco]

  On 8/28/2024 at 6:29 AM, 10baht said:

Let's be honest and blame it on global warming.555

Expand  

Don't be delibertely facile - Untrammelled development is a factor and of course more intensive weather that is linked to global warming - it's a perfect storm.

[bokningar]

  On 8/28/2024 at 6:19 AM, MalcolmB said:

Global warming brings heavier storms.

This is the new reality. 

Expand  

Where did you read that it has been heavier than normal rainy season?

More and more houses and less forest yes. But heavier storms is just something you made up.

[JamesPhuket10]

What fool would buy a house next to or on a "mountain", especially in those areas where the trees have been removed.

 

I think gravity still works downwards😧

 

It has been raining more or less non-stop for the last few days in Kathu, very heavy rain, but in this gated housing complex not a single puddle on the private roads or the gardens/driveways etc due to a great drainage system (large private building company), it has been that way for the last fifteen years.

 

But go outside onto the public roads and here and there they fail and the drains overflow.

 

 

[Spock]

  On 8/28/2024 at 6:12 AM, ronster said:

Has happened already over the years but luckily not too big. So far !!!! 

Expand  

At least Samui has trees and there are limits as to how high buildings can be. Phuket had no restrictions of which I am aware and the island has been largely denuded of trees for years.

[ronster]

  On 8/28/2024 at 7:30 AM, Spock said:

At least Samui has trees and there are limits as to how high buildings can be. Phuket had no restrictions of which I am aware and the island has been largely denuded of trees for years.

Expand  

There are limits but they are ignored if you look around and watch the news .

Plenty of trees on samui , but if you look at banrak , chaweng noi and all around area behind Makro lamai you will see all gone in the development areas. Just a matter of time before half the hill or property on them goes downwards.

[spidermike007]

So the real question is who is at fault here? Is is the planning department, is it the department that issued a license to cut down the trees, or is it the officials who did not prevent the trees from being cut down? 

 

Phuket is a very rainy area it's notorious for having heavy rainfall so something like this could have and should have been easily anticipated. 

 

Why was it not foreseen?

Pure sloth?

Pure greed?

Or total negligence? 

[geisha]

I have many friends in Phuket, mostly Kata and Karon. They have / had beach side hotels etc. Often we’d look at the hills and they’d tut tut and say how all this building was very bad and accidents waiting to happen. This was in the 80s .

It was all jungle , nature is taking it back.

[Bobydog]

  On 8/28/2024 at 2:26 AM, JoePai said:

because there were no trees on the mountain

 

and the cause of the landslide is.....

Expand  

 

  On 8/28/2024 at 7:37 AM, ronster said:

There are limits but they are ignored if you look around and watch the news .

Plenty of trees on samui , but if you look at banrak , chaweng noi and all around area behind Makro lamai you will see all gone in the development areas. Just a matter of time before half the hill or property on them goes downwards.

Expand  

Over qualified Administrators...nothing has worked properly for a long time an never will since the idiots took control. They need to get out before they really stuff up big time and create a major catastrophe.