BANGKOK: Bang Prathun is like a miniature water world. A spiderweb of canals splays out through a rare green landscape of coconut and fruit trees, alongside paths that connect an enduring community.
Nawin Meebunjong grew up here, exploring the intricate canals. “I’ve been here since I was little. I grew up with the water, swimming in the canal. I went to school by boat. I go to the market by boat. Everything involves water,” he said.It was a moment of turmoil in his life that turned him from someone who took his home for granted, to one of its most passionate protectors.
“Like my mother. I did not have time to take care of her. I only made money and worked. Finally, when she passed away, it was too late to look after her. Like the canal. This is why I became interested in the canal. It’s also a mother, the mother of the water. The mother that we should look after,” he said.
“To live with it is to be harmonised. So we can live with nature. This is the approach to living with water. Nothing can conquer nature. Regardless of the approach we have, it’s merely an act of deferring, delay or control. But eventually, you can’t win.” “From the beginning, we built the city in the wrong place but we cannot return. So now it’s about finding the right solution and changing the attitudes of the people and changing natural disasters to be part of their living,” she said.
Rapid development has pushed the city’s poor towards congested and increasingly undesirable retreats. Over time, those informal settlements came to be along the canals.READ: Extreme flood risk - New report outlines potentially disastrous scenario for Ho Chi Minh City “There are 7,000 houses along the Lat Phrao canal and 3,800 of them encroach on the canal. These houses, instead of helping water drainage, are obstacles,” said Thanat Narupornpong, assistant director of the Community Organizations Development Institute , a government agency.
“The challenge for the project is that some of them said they didn’t want to change their lifestyle. Not everyone agrees to move out,” Thanat said. Life has changed forever here, as social connections fade and the worries about flooding - from the perspective of authorities and residents alike - become more prescient year on year.
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