“I was selling goods at my grocery shop in front of my home, when my house suddenly sank leaving only the pillars standing. All my belongings were ruined. I almost fainted. My neighbours had to come and help salvage some of my stuff and I moved in with a relative for my safety,” Tiang Kmapan, a resident in Ayutthaya’s Lat Bua Luang district, tearfully recalled when her house was damaged by a three-by-50 metre, one-metre-deep hole a week ago on Liab Klong San Road.

The woman said she would have to relocate as she no longer felt safe living in the area, adding that the disaster had cost her a loss in income as her store was ruined.

Although Ayutthaya often suffers from drought, this is one of the most severe instances on record.

“I have been here for more than 20 years. We could still live when the canals would dry up previously, but I never thought that the land my house was built on would collapse,” Tiang said, adding that she had been concerned for her home when a nearby canal-side area began subsiding on December 29.

“Then my house sank on January 7,” she said.

Canal water normally keeps canal-side roads intact, but in times of drought some farmers still insist on pumping water, bringing down water levels and leading to the subsequent subsidence of land.

This disaster, which can also cause roads to crack, especially those along canals with steep banks, could return as drought is looming in many areas and has already started affecting farmers.

Many farmers have not been able to grow their usual water-dependent crops, which is reducing their income as the interest on their debts continues rising.

Professor Thanawat Jarupongsakul, adviser to the Department of Geology at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Science, said such subsidence and landslide results from the fact that the soil layer in the Central region is old seabed soil comprised 80 per cent of minerals.

These minerals expand with water and shrink without it, he said, adding that the lack of water in canals causes this kind of soil to release moisture until it shrinks, dries and cracks leading to subsidence and landslides.

“We are continuing to suffer this year as we haven’t recovered from the previous drought crises. As it is many canals are low in water levels and roads along these canals face a greater risk of cracking and sinking, especially those frequented by heavy trucks,” he said.