Hat yai: Coping with the current severe flooding situation, particularly in the southern region, including Hat Yai, cannot rely on traditional knowledge. Instead, it must be viewed as a "new paradigm" that requires humans to adapt and learn systematically.
According to Thai News Agency, this year's flood disaster has covered a wide area, from Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat down to Phatthalung, Hat Yai, Trang, Satun, Pattani, Yala, and parts of Narathiwat. Hat Yai in particular has been hit harder than last year, and may even be worse than in previous years. A major cause of this year's significant increase in water volume is the La Ni±a phenomenon, a condition where the La Ni±a index is below -0.5, indicating a high rainfall. While the rainfall pattern varies each year, nature teaches different lessons. Many factors influence this, including the conditions in the sky, upstream, the city's neighbors, the city's downstream, and whether the sea, the final barrier, is ready to receive the water.
Assistant Professor Dr. Somporn Chuayaree, a lecturer at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, points out that we cannot prevent or blame nature. The correct approach is to flow with nature's flow and understand its game. This requires a multidisciplinary approach, including meteorology (the science of knowing the sky or "knowing the day"). Furthermore, we must also understand forests, peatlands, mountains, rice paddies, seas, and soil.
But equally important is "reading the minds" of humans in order to prepare, provide information and help with recovery. Predicting in advance is difficult because model data often gives values that are much lower than reality (must be multiplied by 2 or 3 to get the actual water volume). However, if a mistake occurs, what must be recovered is "recovering the mind" so that we can survive in the future.
To enhance disaster preparedness and reduce losses, Dr. Somporn has promoted a concept that emphasizes the application of science and mathematics to adapt to daily life, particularly the "1 household, 5 schools" concept, which increases skills and thinking among people in the system (Peopleware skill).
Planning for future disasters must be systems-based and address the problems within the same watershed. Hat Yai has a special characteristic: it's a concrete city. As a result, water cannot seep into the ground. Instead, it flows into the canals. When it rains heavily, the water overflows quickly. In addition to the urban structure, the structure of the mountains and upstream forests surrounding the city has also changed significantly due to economic development, resulting in a decrease in water absorption and retardation capacity.
Therefore, dealing with this new landscape requires careful design by slowing down water in upstream areas. We need to think ecologically, combining forestry and mixed economy to ensure that mountains can retain water. We need to increase the roughness so that water can slowly seep into the roots before flowing further.
Urban management must also adapt as buildings in cities are so dense that rooftops can absorb 80-90% of the water, which then drains into the streets. Visualizing the animation of the floodwaters flowing from small canals, through the railway, to the U-Tapao Canal and the Rama I Canal is essential for programming the process of living with disasters.
However, this disaster has taught us an important lesson: planning for the future must be meticulous and require new knowledge and perspectives to keep pace with the increasingly rapid and drastic changes of nature.