Discussion
RE: https://mstdn.social/@Free_Press/117336321039642791
If you've never been there/read up on it, Bangkok's greater metropolitan area is home to over 17 million people—we're talking New York/London in scale—and is on the Chao Phraya river delta in reclaimed swampland. There are canals, and drainage is a perpetual problem.
This is as bad as the entire Netherlands facing inundation.
@cstross Thailand is also a critical supply-chain hub for some major components like hard drives.
@cstross On the strategic thinking maps... St. Petersburg... is officially around 5.5 million people... about same as population of all of Finland. There are some unofficial estimations that are based on cellphone network data that show numbers about double that. Now if you think that anything happens to a city like that, which is based on swap.. or river delta...
Bangkok is truly awe inspiring. An incredible vast warren of a metropolis. To imagine it flooded like this is terrifying.
Oh shit. One of my closest friends is in Bangkok right now for surgery. Was discharged from hospital two days ago and is meant to be recovering for the next fortnight in a hotel to regain enough mobility to fly home to Australia.
I’ve just pinged her on Telegram, no response yet. 😰🤞
Oh shit. One of my closest friends is in Bangkok right now for surgery. Was discharged from hospital two days ago and is meant to be recovering for the next fortnight in a hotel to regain mobility before coming home to Australia.
I’ve just pinged her on Telegram, no response yet. 😰🤞
@cstross Climate yes, but building a megacity in a swamp/delta. What did they think was going to happen?
@larsivi Bangkok has been where it is since the 15th century, back when river travel was the main way of moving goods around that part of the world. It's been a metropolis since the late 19th century. It predates climate change. Isn't Oslo *also* a shipping hub?
@cstross Touché 😊 A river delta probably (that is the 'os' part of the name), but not so much a swamp. I suppose it is hard to blame the original builders of Bangkok, but understanding of the regional water mechanics should have been there for a while now. Willingness to do the right thing about it is probably not much there, as most such places in the world.
@larsivi Bangkok is approximately as bad for flooding as the Netherlands, only never went through a "we're a European colonial power! Let's loot the planet!" phase. It's not poor any more—per capita GDP in 2024 was nearly US $20,000/year—but it's quadrupled in population in the past 50 years and infrastructure has lagged, possibly because of Thailand's unique political problems (hint: military coups as recently as the last decade).
@cstross heartbreaking. Was there literally a month ago 🥲
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@cstross last time it was about this bad was 2011. I hope it's not worse than that. Lived there at the time and fled the area as the water was getting closer by. People I know fled now too.
Not much in the news here.
Maybe that will change once some big factory is under water.