Monks defend Ayutthaya wat from flood
More than 100 Buddhist monks and novices from Ayutthaya's Wat Phanan Choeng are acting as a 24-hour flood-watch team, with nearly Bt2 million in funds and 10 truckloads of sandbags on standby to protect their over 700-year-old temple from the rising floodwater.
The temple - located at a point where the Pasak and Chao Phya rivers meet - experienced major flood damage in 1995 and needed Bt10 million for restoration, assistant abbot Phra Maha Cherdchai said yesterday. As a result, the temple set up a team of monastery protectors comprising 40 monks and 96 novices, along with a number of local residents, to build two-metre-high sandbag embankments to withstand the passing torrents. Water pumps were also installed to drain the floodwater seeping through the concrete floor, Phra Maha Cherdchai said. "We have to do the best we can to keep the water away because if the temple is flooded we would have to spend a lot of money restoring it again. Prevention is better than solving problems later," he said, adding that he believed the temple would get through this latest crisis. The temple has prepared 10 truckloads of sandbags and expects to spend nearly Bt2 million to protect the monastery from flooding, Phra Maha said, adding the temple had learned that this year's flooding would be more severe than in 1995. The base of the temple currently stands one metre above the water level, which is three metres higher than normal. A novice named Somsak, 15, said he had never seen flooding like this before and he had worked with other novices to make and pile up sandbags throughout the past two weeks. "I'm not tired. It's actually fun because we are helping to protect our temple together," Somsak said, adding that the physical work took place in the evening and night when it was not too hot. He said he noticed the water had risen rapidly in the past few days. Legend says the temple's main Buddha image, the Phra Buddhachao Phanang Choeng, was built 26 years before the establishment of the Ayutthaya kingdom. This seated Buddha image is the province's largest at 19 metres tall and 14 metres wide and was damaged during the loss of Ayutthaya to the Burmese. It was totally restored during the reign of King Rama IV and renamed Phra Buddha Triratananayok. It is also known among locals as Luang Phor Tho, and to Chinese residents as Luang Phor Sam Por Kong.
Anan Paengnoy The Nation
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