The village that was swallowed by the sea

By Bethan Jinkinson
Samut Prakan province,Thailand

Just an hour's drive south of the Thai capital Bangkok , the small coastal village of Khun Samutchine is facing a daily battle with the sea.

The sea is coming in at an alarming rate

The village is suffering from the effects of severe coastal erosion: the sea comes in at a rate of approximately 25 metres a year.

Environmentalists say the erosion experienced in the area is probably some of the worst in the world.

Dr Thanawat Jarupongsakul, a scientist from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University says that climate change has helped cause the loss of nearly 600 km of Thailand's coastline.

"Climate change has resulted in more intense waves and rougher seas during the monsoon period," he said. "The average height of waves used to be between one and 1.5 metres, but now it has increased to between two and four metres high."

Lost homes

For the villagers who live here, the encroaching sea has been devastating.

The temple is surrounded on all sides by the sea

The village has lost a health centre, a school and dozens of electricity pylons, the tops of which can just be seen poking out from the sea.

Nearly half of the community's households have had to abandon their coastal homes altogether. The remaining families have to keep moving their houses further and further inland.

One of the most dramatic symbols of the sea's incursion is the village temple, Wat Khun Samutchine.

This intricate Buddhist temple stands two metres above the sea and can only be reached by a series of rickety wooden bridges.

Wave defence

Monks resident at the temple have tried to protect their buildings by planting mangrove trees.

Mangrove forests have traditionally protected Thailand's coastline by encouraging the build-up of sediment.

But local people say that the mangrove saplings rarely thrive. The mud is not deep enough to allow the trees to spread their roots before they are washed away by the wind and the waves.

Perhaps the best hope for the community comes from a project developed by Dr Thanawat.

Concrete structures decrease the power of the waves

Five hundred metres out to sea, he has built large concrete structures - with the aim of breaking the power of the waves.

So far preliminary results are good. Dr Thanawat says that he has decreased the energy of the waves by up to 50 percent.

But the structures were only built as part of a small case study, and the government has yet to approve their use across all affected areas.

Environmentalists say that Thailand's military-backed government has yet to implement any tangible measures to combat the effects of climate change.

For the people of Khun Samutchine, their future as a coastal community remains in jeopardy.