Human activity causes Thailand flooding disaster

Thailand is experiencing the worst flooding it’s had in over half a century and humans are largely to blame. Smith Dharmasaroja, the former director general of the Thai Meteorological Department, states that the main factors behind Thailand’s horrible flooding is deforestation, overbuilding in water catchment areas, the damming and diversion of natural waterways, urban sprawl in swamp areas, filling in of canals and overall bad planning by government officials. Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, is on track to be hit hard by the flooding in coming days. Around 45 miles of sandbags have been deployed along the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the middle of Bangkok. Levees and drainage canals are being built all around the city but some have caused fighting between civilians. Two villagers got into a gunfight over a dike that would protect one side of a street but would destroy the other once the floods arrived. Bangkok is in grave danger due to the fact that much of it is built in low-lying areas, the city is completely overcrowded and many of the canals meant to remove water from the city are clogged up with garbage.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44900674/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/

Chemical plant explodes in Waxahachie, Texas

The Magnablend Inc. facility in Waxahachie, Texas caught fire on Monday, October 3rd. The city is located 30 miles south of Dallas and around 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes due to the raging fire. Officials say they believe the fire was started when some chemicals at the plant were mixed incorrectly resulting in a spark that started the massive fire. Donald Golden, the Magnablend spokesman stated that all employees who were working at the facility during the fire safety evacuated the building but he was not able to confirm what chemicals originally sparked the fire. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been consistently monitoring the air quality around Waxahachie in order to make sure the hazardous materials do not spread. For the engineering hazard paradigm, the Magnablend Inc. building should have been built to be more fire resistant and better sprinkler systems to deal with a fire once it starts. The behavioral paradigm involves not building a chemical plant next to residential areas that could be potentially harmed due to air quality or spreading flames. The development approach to this situation would be re-building a more fire resistant facility located further away from residential areas in order to minimize the chance of this hazard occurring again. For the complexity approach, a chemical lab built with bad fire resistant materials started on fire near a residential community. In order to minimize the chance of this occurring in the future, a more fire resistant building should be built far away from residential communities and regulations should be put in place in order to ensure chemicals are mixed safely.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/fire-rages-at-texas-chemical-plant/

Ancient city becomes victim to flooding in Thailand

The province of Ayutthaya in Thailand has been hit hard by floods in the past month. The floods occurred due to a large tropical storm that was followed by seasonal monsoon rains. 200 of the 500 ancient temples have been affected by the flooding, including a 400 year old temple known as the Chai Wattanaram Temple. These temples belong to a World Heritage Site and are a main attraction for tourists visiting Thailand. Although many people would say these temples are an intangible cost, Thailand’s Culture Minister estimates the damage costs at 3.2 million. The flooding has also displaced more than 215,000 families and flooded over 3 million acres of farmland.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44772469/ns/weather/