Bangkok may be uninhabitable in seven years

THE CAPITAL

By Varataya Chailangka
The Nation



Dr Ajong Chumsai na Ayudhya, a Thai scientist who has worked with the US space agency Nasa in the past, said yesterday that the areas around the Gulf of Thailand would be hit by tsunamis and that Bangkok would be under water in less than seven years.

At a seminar yesterday about the impact of global warming on Chiang Mai residents, Ajong said humans were mainly to blame for such disasters because they were using up natural resources, chopping down forests and kept emitting greenhouse gases with no regard for the future.

The United States is the biggest contributor to carbon dioxide at 30.2 per cent, followed by China at 30 per cent and India at 23 per cent, he said. Thailand was at rank 22 or 23 out of the 200 biggest emitters of CO2 in the world. With the current CO2 emission rate standing at 395 parts per million (ppm) from the previous 300ppm, he warned that greenhouse gases would increase and bring about inevitable changes.

Ajong explained that over the past three decades the temperature has risen, with warmer seas killing coral reefs, glaciers melting, storms becoming stronger and earthquakes being of greater magnitude.

Warning that temperatures would rise by approximately 4 degrees Celsius, Ajong said polar bears would be extinct in less than 10 years and the seas would rise by six metres.

So far there have been two significant changes to the Earth.

Firstly, the planet's axis has shifted, changing weather patterns, and secondly, the Earth's crust has displaced, causing more frequent and more severe earthquakes and tsunami disasters.

Thailand, which is located on the Eurasian Plate, will be affected, Ajong warned, adding that the Gulf of Thailand would be hit by tsunamis and affect the South very badly.

Earthquakes within the 6-Richter scale and severe flooding would hit provinces in the North, such as Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Lampang and Uttaradit, he said.

The Central region, namely Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi and Ayutthaya, would be under seawater, he said, adding that the capital would be uninhabitable in seven years.


-- The Nation 2010-09-18