Over one million people face landslide risk

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Over one million people face landslide risk
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation 2011-04-06

More than a million people living on the slopes of hills nationwide are at great risk of landslides due to massive deforestation and torrential rains, the Mineral Resources Department warned yesterday.

The Northern region is the highestrisk area with more than 3,965 villages located near slopes of hills, followed by the South with 1,628 villages, the North with 366 villages, the Central and Western region with 317 villages, and the Eastern region with 179.

Next month the Northern and Western regions will face increased threat of landslides as they enter the rainy season.

"The department will keep an eye on landslide activity likely to cause damage in these areas," the department's directorgeneral Adisak Thongkhaimuk said yesterday.

Department spokesman Adichart Surinkham said four districts in Nan province - Pua, Chaloem Phra Kiat, Bo Klua and Santisuk - faced possible landslides due to wide areas of corn farming that had destroyed land surfaces that could absorb flash floods and prevent slides.

Moreover, many land cracks that could also add to landslide activity have been found in these areas, he said.

"The department's mobile team will train people living in landslide risk areas to evacuate and handle serious incidents," he said.

Adisak said the department had asked the government to tighten measures to control large plantations on low, flat land - especially rubber and corn - in a bid to prevent landslides, which have caused extensive damage to properties and claimed many lives.

"Illegal rubber plantations on low, flat land must be removed from reserved forest or landslide risk areas," he added.

Adisak accepted that it would be difficult to control rubber plantations and designate low, flat areas as landslide risk areas.

He will ask the Office of National Resources and Environment Policy and Planning (ONEP) to control the environmental impact assessment strictly for any activity conducted in landslide risk areas.

After the last landslide catatrophe in the Southern provinces, the department has learned that few landslide earlywarning messages were sent in and near risk areas.

"We must send early landslide warning messages to cover all people who live around these risk areas," he said.

To date, the department has 14,845 landslide earlywarning volunteers who work in 1,000 villages across the country - but the department needs to extend the volunteers to cover 5,000 villages, which are home to about a million people in risk areas.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti has also instructed the Forestry Department and National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department to persuade monks living in 6,038 forestry areas to help the ministry survey and monitor landslides.

Adichart said the department would revise its map of landslide risk areas, particularly in the Southern provinces, as it has learned that the current map does not cover all areas in the country.

The department is waiting for images captured by the THEOS satellite and provided by the GeoInformatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA). These images - due in a few days - will help the department evaluate the landslide risk areas. Officers will visit the sites to survey the damage.