Evacuations Ordered As Thai South Faces Serious Landslide Risk

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FLOOD

Evacuations ordered as South faces serious landslide risk

By The Nation

With the continued downpour significantly raising the risk of landslides in the South, authorities have evacuated nearly 100 people in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Ron Phibun district yesterday.

Most of the evacuees are seeking shelter in their relatives’ houses. Their hometown tambon Hintok, located on the Khao Luang mountain range, has been declared a dangerous zone.

“The mountain is already saturated, and we can only expect the worst when it cannot absorb any more water,” Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor Thira Mintarasak said yesterday.

He has also ordered evacuation in other landslide-prone areas in Lan Saka, Nopphitam, Khanom, Chawang and Phipun districts.

Yongyut Krajangloke, a kamnan in Lan Saka district, said the locals were very concerned about landslides. “The risk is very high because the rain is continuing,” he said.

Nakhon Si Thammarat isn’t the only Southern province facing landslide risks.

Vittayen Muttamara, deputy director of the government’s coordination centre for flood relief, said evacuations were necessary in Surat Thani’s Kanchanadit and Tha Chana districts, Phatthalung’s Kong Ra district, as well as Chumphon’s Lang Suan, Sawi, Lamae and Muang districts.

“Although the rain has eased, accumulated water in the mountains is threatening to create landslides or flash floods,” he said.

Downpours are expected to continue in the South until tomorrow.

Runoffs often cause landslides and mudslides in mountainous areas, with many spots already being hit with such disasters over the past month.

As of yesterday, the flood-related death toll had risen to 181, with 125 deaths in Central and Northeastern regions and 56 fatalities in the South. The disaster has upset the lives of 3.2 million people in 30 provinces.

However, the situation in the South is most worrying because heavy downpours continue.

Vittayen, meanwhile, has people living in low-lying areas or along the water in Surat Thani and Samui Island, as well as in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Phrommakhiri, Muang and Chulabhorn districts to move their belongings to higher ground because there is a chance of flash flooding.

Elsewhere, he said, rehabilitation work was about to start in the provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Sawan, Prachin Buri, Saraburi, Lop Buri and Suphan Buri.

His centre has also found that floods have already subsided in Sing Buri, Angthong, Nonthaburi, Sing Buri, Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani.

Meanwhile, relief items are still being handed out in many hard-hit areas. Her Majesty the Queen yesterday told Thai Red Cross Society’s secretary-general Phan Wannamethee to hand out 1,500 sets of relief items to flood victims in Phatthalung.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Royal Thai Army has also distributed basic necessities among flood-hit people.

-- The Nation 2010-11-10

[tonglen]

One can only assume that development/overdevelopment has contributed to the risk of these landslides.

And while I do not think this is the only reason for the increased risk of landslides, more care should be taken when issuing permits and to illegal development.

[animatic]

One can only assume that development/overdevelopment has contributed to the risk of these landslides.

And while I do not think this is the only reason for the increased risk of landslides, more care should be taken when issuing permits and to illegal development.

It has contributed to the flooding certainly,

but in many cases these landslides are natural in causes.

Just way too much bloody RAIN!