UNESCO guides flood plan

AYUTTHAYA, 28 March 2013: World Heritage sites in Ayutthaya province will be the first in the country to have a full-scale flood risk mitigation plan supported by UNESCO and ADB.

Ayutthaya was the worst hit province during the 2011 flood and hundreds of historical sites were damaged with some still undergoing restoration.

UNESCO Bangkok director, Gwang-Jo Kim, said: “Disaster risk mitigation is one of the top priorities for World Heritage protection identified by the World Heritage Committee.”

The UNESCO project was developed following the severe flood of 2011 that heavily affected the Ayutthaya’s core world heritage site. It is being funded by the Asian Development Bank under its water resources financing programme.

Since October 2011, Thai authorities have supervised repair work at the World Heritage site and have invested in water management systems for the Chao Phraya River Basin.

However, up to now, there has been no long-term effort to protect Ayutthaya’s heritage assets from future flooding.

“The two-year project will assess the flood risks at Ayutthaya’s World Heritage site and then develop a flood risk mitigation plan.”

According to the project, experts will undertake hydraulic modeling using computer simulations to gauge flood risks at the site. Based on the results, project partners will develop a flood risk mitigation plan together with local stakeholders.

International experts in risk preparedness for cultural heritage conservation will be mobilised by UNESCO Bangkok to guide the plan’s development in line with international conservation standards.

“Ayutthaya will be the first World Heritage site in Southeast Asia with a management plan for flood risk mitigation, setting an example for other World Heritage sites around the region.”

The project will be undertaken by the UNESCO Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE) based in the Netherlands, in close collaboration with UNESCO Bangkok.

In addition, project partners include the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the Thai government Fine Arts Department. An international experts’ seminar in October will start the consultation sessions to develop the plan.

The project  will also support the province’s bid to host the global mega event World Expo 2020. Historically, the waterways surrounding the city have played an integral role in providing transport as well as preventing floods. If the province wins the bid it will make full use of river and canal transport for visitors travelling to the expo park.

The government has set in motion a flood management plan that will tackle the long-term problems and issues that cause flooding annually.

The province governor, Wittaya Phewpong, said earlier: “The systems will focus on integrated water resource management based on a master plan of the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management for the Chao Phraya River basin.”

He added: “Flood protection in the Chao Phraya Basin will focu on reducing the volume of water in the river by diverting it to the Chin River in the west, and the Bang Pakong River in the east.”

The province has decided that the proposed World Expo site will be close to the Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Centre about 20 km south of Ayutthaya town.

Sourcedd: ttrweekly