Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Although the new villages have been relocated from the previous location that
was fl ooded by the tsunami, the location of the new site for the Nua village was
unfortunately still in the low elevation that could still be affected by the tsunami in
the future. Therefore it is important to provide a tsunami early warning message to
the locals with adequate time so that the residents can escape to the safer place.
6.6.2
Restoration of Infrastructures
Several electrical poles in the affected sites were destroyed by the tsunami that
disrupted the electrical power systems in all three communities. After the incident,
the Kamphuan Sub district Administrative Organization contacted the Provincial
Electricity Authority who was responsible for maintaining the electrical power sys-
tem in the area to repair all the damages to the power lines.
For local water supply, the ACRSD had its own water storage tank that was
not damaged by the tsunami. The research station just replaced the damaged
water pipeline system with the new one. The situation was different for the Nua
village that previously shared the water supply with the research center as they
lived in the same area before the incident. After the tsunami, as the Nua village
was relocated away from the ACRSD and the population in the village increased,
the residents in the Nua village had to fi nd new water sources. The water storage
tank was built at higher elevation nearby in the National Park property and water
was released to the village occasionally, depending on the amount of the stored
fresh water in the tank (Fig.
6.11
). During the days that the village did not
received water, the residents had to use the surface water from the shallow wells.
At many times, there were water shortage problems in the village, especially dur-
ing the dry season.
For the Hat Sai Kao village, the situation was better than that of the Nua village
as the village owned a water storage tank that was not damaged by the tsunami.
All they had to do was to install the new water pipeline system to the new relocated
village nearby. In addition, the municipal district sent the water truck into the
villages occasionally, especially during the dry season.
For the drinking water, at the beginning of the aftermath, there was plenty of
donated bottled drinking water. After that the residents originally drank directly
from the refurbished tap water system. As the tab water system had high level of
sanitization in order to maintain the drinking water quality standard, sometimes the
water had unpleasant smells from the chemical used in the water treatment. Although
the smell was not harmful, it made the residents dislike and refrained them from
drinking the tap water directly. Eventually most of the residents had to buy the water
gallons that cost about 10 baht (approximately 3 US dollars) per one 20-l gallons
and have continued until now. To provide the economic perspective of the recent
time, the current minimum wage in Thailand is 300 baht per day.
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