One Night in Bangkok: NASA Scientist Warns Thai Capital Should Be Moved

A former top scientist with NASA has issued a sobering report warning that the capital of Thailand will have to be relocated within the next decade due to climate change and rising sea levels.

Dr Art-Ong Jumsai na Ayudhya made the startling suggestion while speaking at a seminar on climate change, natural disasters, and the future of Thailand and all of South-East Asia. The scientist claims that Bangkok, with a population estimated at over 12 million people, is sinking several feet each year due to rising sea levels. Intense flooding has hit the city and the nation of Thailand hard over the past several years, with billions of dollars of losses resulting from the rising water levels.

Dr. Ayudhya cited the catastrophic flooding over the past few years and the increase in heavy rains and storms, believing that the situation will only worsen over the next decade. The respected scientist insists that the city should be moved to a region in the northeast of the country, an area less prone to flooding and not as close to the ocean. He stated that the relocation of the capital would take at least 20 years, costing untold billions of dollars as Bangkok will face great difficulties in managing excess water and sewage in the next seven or eight years.

Hydro-Cars: Honda Automobile Plant in Thailand Underwater

Photo Credit: The Huffington Post

Now would be a good time to get the much-maligned hydro-automobile off the ground, so to speak. A Honda manufacturing plant in Thailand has been left under water by the catastrophic and record-breaking flooding in the Asian nation.

The plant, located north of the Thai capital Bangkok, was first inundated with flood waters a month ago, and still remains beneath several feet of water. "The whole area is now a big lake," said Honda manager Hideto Maehara, after traveling to Thailand to view the devastation. The flooding has left more than five-hundred people dead and cost the Thai economy billions of dollars in lost revenues. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have been forced from their homes and are living in temporary shelters until the flood waters recede. If the flood waters recede...

The news is a hard break for the automobile manufacturer. The devastating March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan wiped out several key factories responsible for making crucial parts in the manufacturing process. Experts say that the flooding in Thailand has halted the production of more than 90,000 automobiles, with no end in sight.

More rain is in the forecast for the area over the next several days.