Rebuild School for 138 children in Thailand

Dear Donors,

This project has been completed in June 2019 as we reported in our last report. However, because the rainy season continued until September 2019, we anticipated any worst case scenario in how durable our construction could be in standing up against the heavy rainfalls that had occurred almost daily. We are glad to inform you that the construction for the landslide project has now stood up to the heavy rainfalls (see Fig 1-5 below, the photos of which were taken the same day as this report was posted). That means the construction has passed the real test of the rainy season as we are now entering the end of the rainy season.

However, we keep this project open but inactive because we are still monitoring the hill slope where the landslide occurred and where we have now grown more and more trees to strengthen the hold of the soil along the slope (see Fig 6 below) to make sure no landslide will occur again here in the future. Therefore, any future donations for the landslide project will go to buying tree seedlings that we can grow along this slope.

In addition to that, we keep this project open for a temporary use by children sponsors who prefer to transfer their monthly donations to their sponsored children automatically online. In the coming weeks, we will launch a separate project dedicated only for children sponsorship. Then we will therefore deactivate this landslide project.

On behalf of the children, we thank you: your generous support and help have made it possible for the children to go back to their classrooms again and to sleep in their dormitory rooms again without the worries of the landslide.

Kind regards,
Yaowawit Team

The stream’s banks on all sides of the two bridges that crosses the main stream have been  stabilized using gabion mattresses filled with rocks.  

Vetevia grasses were planted on the hill as well as the fruit trees.

Ground cover were also added on the top of the gabion boxes to maintain the drain and safe the soils to  not washing down.

It's will take about 3-4 months till the grass roots will completely growth and establish into the soil.

Most of all, the hill from landslide being safe and the building ready to  ove in.

Thanks for you all who support us since last year till now.

• Yaowawit__Landslide_Progress_Report_20.06.19.pdf (PDF)
  

Soil Erosion Repair & Prevention Work

In March 2019, the restoration work is underway to install drainage passage under the gabion wall. The workers are compacting the soil under the retaining wall of the reinforced concrete base. Individual gabion baskets are placed to form an integrated structure.The gabion retaining wall is constructed to stabilize surface slopes.

The work schedule is back on track and the time lost due to rainfall is recovered. The overall site progress is estimated at 35% and the work is scheduled to complete in mid-May 2019. Lastly, thanks to all donors for your care and support for our school. The school’s funds for restoration of damaged buildings are still needed. Some classroom buildings located on such area affected by landslide are inaccessible and currently pending the risk exposure assessment.

With the financial support from donors for the landslide and ground collapse that destroyed our school buildings in October 2018, we have started the reconstruction of the damaged area and buildings.

Since the mid of February 2019, our engineers have surveyed  the damaged area and analyzed the factors contributing to the geological hazards during the monsoon season to find suitable approaches to make the restoration work firm and protect our school area against future threats. 

They use heavy machinery to excavate the road and install gabions to stabilize and protect the slope against erosion from flood water. The gabions can strengthen the ground and do not jeopardize the ecological balance.

The cleaning up and restoration are in progress and scheduled to complete in the mid of May 2019 before the monsoon season. By the way, it was raining for a few week, which put a temporary halt to our restoration work to wait for the earth to dry.

Donations for restoring the damaged buildings are still needed. We are grateful for your support and concerns about the children safety , emotional stability, and education. And lastly, thanks all donors for your care and support for our school.

Three months ago, heavy rains caused landslides and destroyed most of the grounds of our school buildings.  Since then, many daily and school activities were disturbed but most importantly the children safety and emotional stability was our biggest concern.

Thanks to your donations and your support we have fundraised 1.9 million Baht.  Your contributions will mainly help us to:

Buy roof gutters that drain back away from the slope;
Buy materials for our new retaining wall;
Purchase soil, stones, grass and trees;
Proceed to unexpected work, as for example: moving the river channel at least 4 meters into the valley;
Pay the salary of engineers and qualified contractors who are experienced in this kind of slope stabilization work. 

Reconstruction has not started yet since we are still working on the planning as we also need to finalize the purchase of materials.  Furthermore, we must wait for the dry weather in order to bring the heavy machinery on the ground.

Our community is facing many difficulties trying to fix all the damage.  For these reasons your support is crucial to our efforts.  At this moment 1.5 million Baht are still needed to fix damaged buildings and finalize the reconstruction of Yaowawit.

One thing for sure, is that our community has hope and is very grateful of your help.