Is Bangkok sinking? First a road & now a footpath

First it was a sinkhole in the middle of Rama IV Road and now late last night the footpath alongside Rama III Road collapsed. The subsidence affected a stretch of footpath approximately ten meters long and went as deep as three meters in place. This resulted in some damage to mains water supply pipes. Apparently, Bangkok is sinking at the rate of 1.5 to 5.3 cms per year and some environmentalists reckon that Bangkok could be under water by 2030.

Last year there were a couple of articles published that now might be worth re-reading. They are Thailand, Sinking: Parts of Bangkok Could Be Underwater in 2030 (Time) and Bangkok at risk of sinking into the sea (The Guardian). These two pictures were tweeted this morning by @pr_bangkok.

One thought on “Is Bangkok sinking? First a road & now a footpath

  • April 3, 2012 at 12:33 pm
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    I suspect the recent cases of subsidence have more to do with 19th-century engineering, substandard materials, poor maintenance, and flooding than with a ‘sinking’ city.

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