RP333 The Next Atlantis

 RP333 The Next Atlantis?

Day by day, little by little, Thailand's capital of over eight million people is sinking into the sea. Its annual rate of descent ranges from 1.5 to 5 centimeters. That's very substantial for a city that was built on swampland only 1.5 meters above sea level.
There are several factors behind Bangkok's slow descent into the Gulf of Thailand. First and foremost is urbanization. Every year, Bangkok expands to absorb new waves of people arriving from the surrounding countryside. Heavy buildings are built on top of irrigation canals and natural flood defenses, causing coastal erosion. More people means more groundwater must be extracted for them to drink, and the more groundwater that's extracted, the faster Bangkok sinks. It is a vicious cycle that is difficult to stop.
What's more, the sinking process is irreversible. Every inch that Bangkok sinks is an inch that it will never get back.
Bangkok is going down just as sea levels are coming up. This dangerous combination has led some experts to predict a catastrophe in the not-so-distant future. Some believe that parts of Bangkok will be underwater by 2030. Smith Dharmasaroja of Thailand's National disaster Warning Center goes a step further. According to him, Bangkok will have become the next Atlantis by 2100.
The government of Thailand must act fast if it wants to avoid this catastrophe. One plan is to construct a system of seawalls in the Gulf of Thailand to protect the city from rising sea levels. However, these walls would cost billions of dollars and several prominent members of the scientific community believe that they might not even help. They point out that the last major floods to threaten Bangkok came from the north, not the south.
Another option is to assert more government control over Bangkok's urban sprawl. Buildings need to be moved back from the Chao Phraya River and built on higher ground.
Saving Bangkok will take time, money, and effort. If the government of Thailand delays for too long, it might find that it only has one more option left: abandon the Venice of the East and build a new city somewhere else.