An Analysis of the Opportunities and Risks of Earthquakes in Southern Thailand: A Case Study of the Klong Marui Fault

Abstract

This study has the objectives to analyze the risk factors for earthquake damage at the Klong Marui Fault (KMF), lead to an assessment of the areas that are likely to be affected by earthquakes. This is to pass on knowledge to propose corrective and preventive methods to agencies and people in areas that may be affected by the earthquake in the provinces where the KMF passes. The analyzed data consisted of primary and secondary data from relevant agencies and based on the physical factor assessment form and including statistical factors affecting the damage if an earthquake occurs at the KMF, as well as applying the geographic information system or GIS for spatial potential analysis or Potential Surface Analysis (PSA), the technique was developed to analyze the potential of the development of the area to identify areas that are expected to be damaged in the event of earthquakes in the future. The results of the study showed that there were 8 main factors for analyzing the areas that are expected to be affected by the earthquake at the KMF. The most important factor is the density factor of the quake locations in the past 10 years, followed by the distance from the point of previous earthquakes, distance from fault line, land use, soil group data, geological, height and slope respectively. The results of overlapping the above factors showed that 4 provinces with the KMF across the majority were low and moderate risk areas, and the province most prone to earthquakes is Phuket, followed by Phang-Nga, Krabi, and Surat Thani province, respectively. It was found that in all 4 provinces where the KMF passed through, there was only thepkasattri subdistrict, Mueang Phuket District has a plan and preparation for the situation and in other areas, there are no clear guidelines for preparing for the earthquake situation.