http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-warn-that-land-subsidence-is-a-more-immediate-threat-to-the-worlds-coastal-megacites-than-climate-change-9302052.html

quote

Real-life Atlantis? The world's megacities that are sinking 10 times faster than water levels are rising

Scientists have issued a new warning to the world’s coastal megacities that the threat from subsiding land is a more immediate problem than rising sea levels caused by global warming.

A new paper from the Deltares Research Institute in the Netherlands published earlier this month identified regions of the globe where the ground level is falling 10 times faster than water levels are rising - with human activity often to blame.

In Jakarta, Indonesia’s largest city, the population has grown from around half a million in the 1930s to just under 10 million today, with heavily populated areas dropping by as much as six and a half feet as groundwater is pumped up from the Earth to drink.

It must be the weight of the people that are causing the singage then, half a mill in the 30's and ten mill today in Jakarta and maybe they eat fat Mcdonalds which adds to the weight of ten million people, surely it must be obese people that is causing the world to sink...

Gee, if my house sinks about 1650 feet (about 500 meters) I'll have river frontage instead of a view.

It must be the weight of the people that are causing the singage then, half a mill in the 30's and ten mill today in Jakarta and maybe they eat fat Mcdonalds which adds to the weight of ten million people, surely it must be obese people that is causing the world to sink...

I read a lot of stereotyping on this forum about the typical expat living here. Fat...comes to mind. Guess that it doesnt help...anyway a valid reason for many thais to openly show their dislike of foreigners and blame them for above mentioned problem.

It must be the weight of the people that are causing the singage then, half a mill in the 30's and ten mill today in Jakarta and maybe they eat fat Mcdonalds which adds to the weight of ten million people, surely it must be obese people that is causing the world to sink...

I read a lot of stereotyping on this forum about the typical expat living here. Fat...comes to mind. Guess that it doesnt help...anyway a valid reason for many thais to openly show their dislike of foreigners and blame them for above mentioned problem.

Sure, blame the foreigners -- it truly can't be anyone else's problem!

It must be the weight of the people that are causing the singage then, half a mill in the 30's and ten mill today in Jakarta and maybe they eat fat Mcdonalds which adds to the weight of ten million people, surely it must be obese people that is causing the world to sink...

I read a lot of stereotyping on this forum about the typical expat living here. Fat...comes to mind. Guess that it doesnt help...anyway a valid reason for many thais to openly show their dislike of foreigners and blame them for above mentioned problem.

Sure, blame the foreigners -- it truly can't be anyone else's problem!

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that many cities, like Bangkok, were built on swamps, could it? Then there's the amount of excavation for buildings, subways etc.

Its not just the excavation, look how dense the building structures are, how high they now go, the shear weight of all those structures concentrated in small areas is bound to have an effect.

The article mentions "parts of Bangkok". Anyone know which parts might be at highest and lowest risk?

The article mentions "parts of Bangkok". Anyone know which parts might be at highest and lowest risk?

Without wanting to sound obvious, I think its the parts that got flooded in 2011.

The paper talks about cities mainly located on swampy river delta's,Dhaka,Bangkok,ho chi min,Jakarta and New Orleans,of course this is risky but if you think back to the old Bangkok it would have been light weight wooden houses for the most part,the same for all these places,so not much of a problem,unfortunatley this has been replaced by heavy concrete which has caused the problem,i beleive also the filling in of many of the Klongs in Bangkok contributes to flooding,sure if sea levels rise as predicted by some many parts of Bangkok could be permanently flooded,of course nothing will be done until it is too late.

Global Warming.......give me a break.

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Oh BOY! Can't wait to get me a condo right downtown.

~

when you see piles being sunk for a mighty condo theres a load of sludge being sucked up from the holes not much site of any bedrock or hard core

The depth of the clay layer over the Bangkok area is estimated to range from 550 meters to 2000 meters according to Engineering Properties of Bangkok Clay by S. Shibuya and S.B. Tamrakar. As the area subsides and the sea rises will this clay turn to soup and swallow Bangkok?