Wat's tranquillity shattered

Vibrations caused by jets arriving and departing from Suvarnabhumi Airport are forcing monks at a 100-year-old temple to practise amid falling roof tiles and deafening blasts.

Residents and school children have already complained they were being driven to distraction by the loud aircraft.

And yesterday, the abbot of Wat Bamrungruen in Lat Krabang claimed the temple was suffering.

The temple is just five kilometres from the runway and last month the deafening engine vibrations started dislodging roof tiles from temple buildings. This left holes in the roof of its century-old ubosot, or ordination hall, the abbot said.

"The airport sent an engineer to estimate the loss and concluded it would cost Bt1 million," he added. The airport had covered the holes temporarily and told the temple it would have to wait before the job could be completed.

"I have no idea when work will start," said another Wat Bamrungruen monk. He said Buddha images and murals in the ubosot had been damaged by rain leaking through the roof.

Tiles continued to fall from the roof each time a jetliner zoomed overhead. The temple has tried to secure them to prevent further damage while it waited for the airport to make repairs and install soundproof glass.

The abbot said monks were forced to tolerate the situation because neither the historic temple nor the airport could be moved.

Meanwhile, monks observe religious practices under the leaky roof and to the sounds of giant airliners landing and taking off.

Some, however, cannot bear it and have expressed an intention to move.

Chuchuen Klaythong, 62, who lives in the temple compound, said she saw many tiles falling from the ubosot roof as aeroplanes flew overhead during a recent funeral ceremony.

Phra Suwit of nearby Wat Lat Krabang said his temple suffered similar damage but had made repairs itself.

Meanwhile, a couple residing in Soi Pooncharoen in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district complained to a newspaper on Sunday that tiles had been shaken from their roof by the vibrations from passing aircraft, leaving a one-metre by 2.5-metre hole.

Charuwan Wutthinawin, 50, said that while she was sleeping with her 10-year-old daughter on Sunday morning, she was awoken by a banging sound and saw a hole in the ceiling. She rushed to a police station to report the matter.

The family moved into the house last year, and since the airport opened have suffered from the deafening sound of aircraft taking off and landing every one to two minutes.

Charuwan said she knew the large jets would cause vibrations but never expected they would damage her house.

The Nation