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Southern Coastline Being Washed Away


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Southern coastline being washed away

Beaches vanishing in three Gulf provinces

SONGKHLA: -- The Gulf coastline from Surat Thani south to Songkhla is becoming severely eroded through a mixture of natural and human factors. Worst hit is Songkhla's Ban Kao Seng, where two beaches have nearly been worn away.

The Nakhon Songkhla Municipality has responded by putting 10,000 sandbags along a badly eroded part of Chalathas beach, and is urging the government to take quick action.

The Mineral Resources Department confirmed the seriousness of the erosion along 300 km of the eastern coastline of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla and northern and eastern coast of Surat Thani.

The most seriously damaged spots include the coastline in Kanchanadit district of Surat Thani; Laem Talumphuk in Pak Phanang district and Tha Sala and Hua Sai districts of Nakhon Si Thammarat; and Kao Seng beach in Muang district and Thepha district of Songkhla.

Mineral Resources Department deputy chief Phiphop Vasuvanich said the erosion was caused naturally by tidal surges, strong waves and winds, but also by human activity such as construction blocking the natural movement of sand.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry appointed Thammasat University's research and consultation institute the consultant for a project to curb soil erosion on the eastern coastline in the three provinces. The project's first phase started in October last year.

Research project manager Ouruya Veesakul said the coastline has been worn away by strong waves and winds during the November-January period and by land use changes and the degradation of mangrove forest as a result of shrimp farm expansion.

A lot of sand was swept away from the coast in the Ban U-tapao-Ban Pakthae and Ban Kao Seng-Ban Thung Yai areas of Songkhla and became sand mounds in the sea, she said.

``As for Ban Thung Yai and the northern part of Ban Kao Seng, the beaches should be filled with sand and there should be follow-ups around these areas which would cost around 120 million baht,'' she said.

Ms Ouruya said the hard-hit areas were the southwestern coast of Ban Kao Seng where the remaining beach was only 4m wide, and a 250m section of the northern coast of Ban Kao Seng where seawater could reach the rim of Chalathas beach road.

There were soft and harsh solutions to the problem, she said. The soft option included landfills, the relocation of buildings, the marking of boundaries between communities and beaches, the growing of seagrass and trees with long roots on beaches, and the revitalising of mangroves.

The hard option, meant for hard-hit areas, included the construction of breakwaters and sea walls.

Nakhon Songkhla Municipality mayor Uthit Chuchuay said Chalathas beach had been eroding since 1999 as a result of changes in the direction of tropical storms.

He said the municipality has put 10,000 sandbags along the beach road and it was hoped this would curb the soil erosion until January.

If this proved successful, another 40,000 sandbags will be put along the 800m-long hard-hit section of the beach.

``I think this problem is big and requires long-term systematic solutions with the help of the central government,'' he said.

``The problem has occurred not only in Songkhla but along the whole coast from Narathiwat to Prachuap Khiri Khan, and needs to be tackled in a most comprehensive way,'' he said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-11-23

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If this continues, could the north be cut off from the troublesome provinces in the South?

Perhaps it is government tactic? :o

Maybe the governments tactics should be to apply resources to this problem in a big way and now not later - one small step in the battle against the insurgents by showing the Thais of these areas they are part of the greater Thailand.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We've had tremendous erosion on Koh P but it is probably because they dredged the channel in Thong Sala and built the jetty in Ban Tai. Sand gets pulled off the beaches to fill the hole in Thong Sala and the jetty obstructs the natural flow of the water causing algael growth in the hot season and disrupting the natural movement of sand.

Construction without planning or an environmental impact report.

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