Noppadol Amornvej, assistant chief for disaster prevention and mitigation in Ayutthaya, said on Monday that embankment roads had also collapsed in Sena district in May, with additional waterside collapses in Tha Rua, Bang Sa-ai, Bang Pa-in and Wang Noi districts.
As a result, Transport Minister Prajin Juntong has ordered the Highways Department and Rural Roads Department to survey roads along waterways nationwide. A specialbudget will be set aside for repairs and reinforcement of the roads prone tosubsidence.
Fortunately, the problem may not be as bad as it seems. According to Sarawut Songsiwilai, deputy director-general of the Department of Highways' roadmaintenance division, only about 5% of the more than 60,000km of roads nationwide are prone to drought-aggravated subsidence.
The country's biggest problem by far is a general lack of water caused by the worstdrought in memory.