Pak Phanang district
Pak Phanang is a district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, southern Thailand.
The name of district means 'sheltered mouth', referring to the mouth of the Pak Phanang River protected from the open sea by a long peninsula.
History
During the thesaphiban administrative reforms the district was created in 1895 with the name Bia Sad. On 22 March 1903 it was renamed Pak Phanang, a name first recorded for the area in 1665.On 25 October 1962 Tropical Storm Harriet hit the district. The low Talumphuk peninsula to the north of the district was completely devastated, and even in the town Pak Phanang itself the storm surge made the water rise four metres. The flooding caused more than 1,000 fatalities and many more homeless. It is the most severe windstorm that has ever occurred in Thailand recorded.
Geography
Neighboring districts are : Hua Sai, Chian Yai, Chaloem Phra Kiat and Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat. To the east is the Gulf of Thailand.The most striking geographical feature is the long elongated peninsula known as Laem Talumphuk, which is formed of sand deposited by the predominantly northward current interacting with the outflow of the Pak Phanang River. The shallow bay formed by the peninsula is about 3 km wide at the mouth of the river and 10 km at the top of the peninsula. Originally the coastline of the bay consisted of tidal flats and mangrove forests, however a lot of the western coast had been converted into shrimp farms. The government is also building seawalls along much of the coastline in an effort to stop coastal erosion, although poor coastal land use, including prawn farming, is largely to blame for this effect.