Isaan people warned to brace for a prolonged dry season

[webfact]

Isaan people warned to brace for a prolonged dry season



BANGKOK: -- Northeasterners are advised to store up water for their own consumption as well as for their cattle because of the dry season this year will be longer with delayed rainy season, said Mr Smith Thammasaroj, former director-general of Irrigation Department and a top water expert yesterday (Monday).

Speaking at a seminar entitled “Decoding Disasters in Isarn”, Mr Smith blamed El Nino for the prolonged drought in the Northeast which will be more serious this year.

He said that the old generations of people in the Northeast knew how to prepare themselves for the dry season by collecting rain water and store it in earthern jars which was enough to last till the arrival of rains. Sadly though, people of this generation have all abandoned this local wisdom.

The northeastern region is blessed for not experiencing major natural disasters such as tsunami and earthquake hence the rush to buy land in the region from outsiders, said Mr Smith as he advised northeasterners not to sell their land in haste.

He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/isarn-people-warned-brace-prolonged-dry-season/


-- Thai PBS 2014-03-11

[plachon]

Bit late to be advising people to store water for the dry season, 5 months into the dry season!

AFAIK, Mr Smith was never anything to do with the Irrigation Dept, but was a meteorologist who made his name, semi-correctly predicting that a tsunami might hit southern Thailand prior to the 2004 disaster. Not a water expert, but a climate and weatherman. Nor a historian. The practice of collecting rainwater in large jars (ong) is a relatively new one in Isaan, dating back not much more than 40 years for most families. Prior to that, it was boreholes or shallow wells/ponds that were used for the majority of domestic water.

It would have been helpful for the article to give a little but more information on the seminar, such as where it was organised, by whom and who attended. Anyone know?

[isanbirder]

Just near my house, hundreds of small trees shading either side of the irrigation channel have been ripped out, and replaced with piles of mud. These trees not only sheltered the walks along either side, but also reduced evaporation from the channel in the hot season.

Why? To deepen the irrigation channel in order to store all that water we are now being told we are not going to get. Makes sense, doesn't it?

[jkinbkk]

Well we had a significant down pour in Maha Sarakham and surrounding area most of yesterday afternoon/evening.

Probably this fear mongering about water is a precursor to some new diabolical manipulation of the farmers by the current regime

[upena]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

[bushwacker]

In addition to the well timed advice, be aware that due to certain protest activities, there is no government and therefore no help will be coming your way.

[firefox999uk]

Well we had a significant down pour in Maha Sarakham and surrounding area most of yesterday afternoon/evening.

Probably this fear mongering about water is a precursor to some new diabolical manipulation of the farmers by the current regime

I live in the Kantharawichai district of Mahasarakham and we had nothing but dark clouds and rumbles of thunder.

Oh! and a 30 minute power cut as i was half way through a shower (pardon the pun) at 5pm.

[fatdrunkandstupid]

Well we had a significant down pour in Maha Sarakham and surrounding area most of yesterday afternoon/evening.

Probably this fear mongering about water is a precursor to some new diabolical manipulation of the farmers by the current regime

Not at all...

Talk to any old rice farmer. They will tell you that a drought always follows a cold winter.

This winter has been the coldest on record.

[slipperylobster]

People like this are just weird. He is telling people that have no money, and for whom the government does not support (only takes) not to sell their land. LOL. So who is going to support them in the meantime?

[billd766]

I have lived in Khampaeng Phet province for 10 years and I cannot remember a year when the government water supply was available all year round.

We started with 6 ongs and now have 20 cross connected with 7 spares. People around used to laugh at the stupid farang (including his wife) but I still have water when they are out. My wife does not laugh at me so much now.

The local fire engine comes around and tops up peoples ongs every few days. I am not expecting ant real rain until after songkran and maybe not until May

[Mr Yim]

Keeping the Mahasarakham down pour thread. I am on the out skirts of Mahasarakham near Thaiwatsadu and we had a light shower about 4 oclock.

[Dap]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

Was just about to ask the same thing. ????

Edited March 11, 2014 by Dap

[plachon]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

It is just an old trick to prove to his audience that he is well connected and therefore increase his credibility and "expert status", when in fact he has little clue what he is talking about when it comes to water resources management, especially not in the case of Isaan, confirmed by his inane comments about storage in ong (a modern, non-traditional method of storage in the region), both historically inaccurate and virtually useless at this time of year! He also wants to appear like a bit of a mystic oracle, by his weather prediction on one hand, and reference to Krakatoa tsunami on the other. But name-dropping can go a long way in Thailand, so he is able to capitalise on this "top trump" call and thus stifle any criticism in the seminar audience. Given the political partisanship of any project or plan for water resources management (now 350 billion Thaksin project is on the scrapheap), this is most likely groundwork for the next mega-project by the present opposition who fancy their chances of forming the next govt.

[bangon04]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

but but but it says in the article that Isaan was never struck by a Tsunami. Perhaps this was just the exception which proves the rule.

Mr Smith has the perfect face for announcing bad news, don't you think?

[GinBoy2]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

but but but it says in the article that Isaan was never struck by a Tsunami. Perhaps this was just the exception which proves the rule.

Mr Smith has the perfect face for announcing bad news, don't you think?

Well I'm figuring that if a tsunami ever reaches Isaan, bigger things to worry about than lack of rainfall, and probably time to promptly place head between legs and kiss a*ss goodbye

[billd766]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

It is just an old trick to prove to his audience that he is well connected and therefore increase his credibility and "expert status", when in fact he has little clue what he is talking about when it comes to water resources management, especially not in the case of Isaan, confirmed by his inane comments about storage in ong (a modern, non-traditional method of storage in the region), both historically inaccurate and virtually useless at this time of year! He also wants to appear like a bit of a mystic oracle, by his weather prediction on one hand, and reference to Krakatoa tsunami on the other. But name-dropping can go a long way in Thailand, so he is able to capitalise on this "top trump" call and thus stifle any criticism in the seminar audience. Given the political partisanship of any project or plan for water resources management (now 350 billion Thaksin project is on the scrapheap), this is most likely groundwork for the next mega-project by the present opposition who fancy their chances of forming the next govt.

I live in Khampaeng Phet province on the other side of the country from Issan and ongs have been the tradition here for many tears. When I used to work all over Issan in the 1990s ongs were in use in all the villages I went to. My "patch" ran from Pak Chong Thai up to Nong Khai and everything east of there to the Laos and Cambodian borders plus bits of Loei and some bits of Chaiyaphum, some 225,000 sq km.

[GuyL]

Mr Smith Thammasaroj could easily impersonate a human Thai version of Droopy, don't you think so, guys? I can't help imagine him saying: "You know what? I'm happy!"

[sirchai]

He said that the old generations of people in the Northeast knew how to prepare themselves for the dry season by collecting rain water and store it in earthern jars which was enough to last till the arrival of rains. Sadly though, people of this generation have all abandoned this local wisdom

I'm just wondering where the politicians' wisdom might be.Sadly though, people of this government have all abandoned this local wisdom.

I'm pretty sure that they'll keep the dams in Khun Haan and Phoosing to 120% full again, that they can burst and flood our new place. -

Edited March 13, 2014 by sirchai

[plachon]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

It is just an old trick to prove to his audience that he is well connected and therefore increase his credibility and "expert status", when in fact he has little clue what he is talking about when it comes to water resources management, especially not in the case of Isaan, confirmed by his inane comments about storage in ong (a modern, non-traditional method of storage in the region), both historically inaccurate and virtually useless at this time of year! He also wants to appear like a bit of a mystic oracle, by his weather prediction on one hand, and reference to Krakatoa tsunami on the other. But name-dropping can go a long way in Thailand, so he is able to capitalise on this "top trump" call and thus stifle any criticism in the seminar audience. Given the political partisanship of any project or plan for water resources management (now 350 billion Thaksin project is on the scrapheap), this is most likely groundwork for the next mega-project by the present opposition who fancy their chances of forming the next govt.

I live in Khampaeng Phet province on the other side of the country from Issan and ongs have been the tradition here for many tears. When I used to work all over Issan in the 1990s ongs were in use in all the villages I went to. My "patch" ran from Pak Chong Thai up to Nong Khai and everything east of there to the Laos and Cambodian borders plus bits of Loei and some bits of Chaiyaphum, some 225,000 sq km.

How many years does it take before you consider something is "traditional"? As I said in the previous post, I estimate that using ong on any significant scale in Isaan villages is not much more than a 40 year "tradition". So hardly ancient, eh? Here, I am talking about the ferro-cement ong which are used to catch rainwater of roofs, which were introduced by a number of NGOs (in particular, the Population and Community Development Association) working in the region in the 1980s. These were affordable solutions for poorer families to capture rainwater for drinking primarily, but if you could afford several, then some limited domestic purposes like dishwashing or clothes washing. There are also the much smaller clay ong from the Central Plains, (sometimes known as ong mangkorn, due to the dragon design on their sides), but these can not store much water in comparison to the 2 cubic metre ferro-cement ong and again they are not traditional in Isaan, but may go back half a century or slightly more, since roads improved between Central Thailand and the NE in the late 1960s. So, I stand by my initial point that ong are a recent innovation to water storage in the NE. Most household water supplies in rural areas pre-1980s came from shallow wells (to avoid deeper salt contamination) or surface water sources, as can be confirmed by numerous descriptions in the literature and priorities identified by donors and development agencies (such as large Australian project that initially concentrated on the Thung Kula Ronghai area, but later spread to other areas).

However, there may well be a perception amongst younger Thais born since 1970s and influential, non-locals (such as Mr Smith) that ong have been around for centuries.

[Nautilus05]

That was a bit of a weird article. Starts off with a warning to store water due to prolonged dry season, then out of nowhere throws in a tsuanmi and volcano eruption from 125 years ago for some reason.

[Gonsalviz]

Had lots of rain in western Nong Bua Lamphu province a few days ago. Along with some major wind and power outage about 3 hours.

[billd766]

What does this have to do with anything? - He disclosed that he was told by His Majesty the King that Thailand was once struck by tsunami 125 years ago during the reign of King Rama V as a result of the explosion of Karakatoa volcano in Sumatra but the extent f the damage caused to Thailand was never officially recorded.

It is just an old trick to prove to his audience that he is well connected and therefore increase his credibility and "expert status", when in fact he has little clue what he is talking about when it comes to water resources management, especially not in the case of Isaan, confirmed by his inane comments about storage in ong (a modern, non-traditional method of storage in the region), both historically inaccurate and virtually useless at this time of year! He also wants to appear like a bit of a mystic oracle, by his weather prediction on one hand, and reference to Krakatoa tsunami on the other. But name-dropping can go a long way in Thailand, so he is able to capitalise on this "top trump" call and thus stifle any criticism in the seminar audience. Given the political partisanship of any project or plan for water resources management (now 350 billion Thaksin project is on the scrapheap), this is most likely groundwork for the next mega-project by the present opposition who fancy their chances of forming the next govt.

I live in Khampaeng Phet province on the other side of the country from Issan and ongs have been the tradition here for many tears. When I used to work all over Issan in the 1990s ongs were in use in all the villages I went to. My "patch" ran from Pak Chong Thai up to Nong Khai and everything east of there to the Laos and Cambodian borders plus bits of Loei and some bits of Chaiyaphum, some 225,000 sq km.

How many years does it take before you consider something is "traditional"? As I said in the previous post, I estimate that using ong on any significant scale in Isaan villages is not much more than a 40 year "tradition". So hardly ancient, eh? Here, I am talking about the ferro-cement ong which are used to catch rainwater of roofs, which were introduced by a number of NGOs (in particular, the Population and Community Development Association) working in the region in the 1980s. These were affordable solutions for poorer families to capture rainwater for drinking primarily, but if you could afford several, then some limited domestic purposes like dishwashing or clothes washing. There are also the much smaller clay ong from the Central Plains, (sometimes known as ong mangkorn, due to the dragon design on their sides), but these can not store much water in comparison to the 2 cubic metre ferro-cement ong and again they are not traditional in Isaan, but may go back half a century or slightly more, since roads improved between Central Thailand and the NE in the late 1960s. So, I stand by my initial point that ong are a recent innovation to water storage in the NE. Most household water supplies in rural areas pre-1980s came from shallow wells (to avoid deeper salt contamination) or surface water sources, as can be confirmed by numerous descriptions in the literature and priorities identified by donors and development agencies (such as large Australian project that initially concentrated on the Thung Kula Ronghai area, but later spread to other areas).

However, there may well be a perception amongst younger Thais born since 1970s and influential, non-locals (such as Mr Smith) that ong have been around for centuries.

My apologies. Having seen them in the 1990s I assumed that they had been around for a long time.

Presumeably the ferro concrete ones are the modern version. Cheaper to make and more easily available.

[billd766]

It actually rained here yesterday afternoon for about an hour but there were only a few small puddles and on the Thai Met site it was flagged up as a "trace" of rain only.

[MobileContent]

Just rained in Udon two days ago already and surely a bit early. We didn't plant rice this time as we have plenty to eat this year,

[plachon]

How many years does it take before you consider something is "traditional"? As I said in the previous post, I estimate that using ong on any significant scale in Isaan villages is not much more than a 40 year "tradition". So hardly ancient, eh? Here, I am talking about the ferro-cement ong which are used to catch rainwater of roofs, which were introduced by a number of NGOs (in particular, the Population and Community Development Association) working in the region in the 1980s. These were affordable solutions for poorer families to capture rainwater for drinking primarily, but if you could afford several, then some limited domestic purposes like dishwashing or clothes washing. There are also the much smaller clay ong from the Central Plains, (sometimes known as ong mangkorn, due to the dragon design on their sides), but these can not store much water in comparison to the 2 cubic metre ferro-cement ong and again they are not traditional in Isaan, but may go back half a century or slightly more, since roads improved between Central Thailand and the NE in the late 1960s. So, I stand by my initial point that ong are a recent innovation to water storage in the NE. Most household water supplies in rural areas pre-1980s came from shallow wells (to avoid deeper salt contamination) or surface water sources, as can be confirmed by numerous descriptions in the literature and priorities identified by donors and development agencies (such as large Australian project that initially concentrated on the Thung Kula Ronghai area, but later spread to other areas).

However, there may well be a perception amongst younger Thais born since 1970s and influential, non-locals (such as Mr Smith) that ong have been around for centuries.

My apologies. Having seen them in the 1990s I assumed that they had been around for a long time.

Presumeably the ferro concrete ones are the modern version. Cheaper to make and more easily available.

No worries. I think it is quite common for Thais and foreigners to look at things in villages and assume they have been around for aeons, even when relatively recent innovations. And often the villagers themselves help with the mythologizing of "tradition", as two things I have noticed during my time in Isaan is both a poor general sense of history and also, lousy memories when it comes to time and specific events. Often, anything older than a single generation (say 30-40 years) can quickly be morphed into a timeless object or tradition in village lore, (e.g. the 80 year old temple becomes "hundreds of years old", which everyone repeats until it becomes "fact"), and those few, sober folk that may actually know a more accurate version of history are often sidelined or silenced by the dominant tendency to exaggerate and mythologize.

Yes, the ferro-cement jars are (relatively) modern inventions. Early prototypes used bamboo reinforcing, but later ones switched to iron rebar, which has persisted to today. As you say, simple and cheap to make and relatively easy to transport and manhandle on the back of trucks. Functional objects with an aesthetically pleasing shape, which you sound like you are well equipped with at home. Do you clean them out each year or wait for a couple of years to get the leaves and dead lizards out the bottom? The trick is remembering to flush the early rains off the roof on the ground and not in the jars - easy to forget when the rain comes out of season. Sounds like the first rains are coming a bit earlier than normal this year.