Engineers Warn 1,000 City Buildings Unsafe

[george]

Engineers warn 1,000 city buildings unsafe

Many structures close to caving in, they say

BANGKOK: -- Leading engineers warned yesterday nearly 1,000 buildings in Bangkok are unsafe, with many at risk of collapse, like the New World department store.

In the wake of the partial collapse of the building, which injured seven people on Wednesday, representatives of the Engineering Institute of Thailand and the Council of Engineers said such risky structures were still being used and serving the general public. ``As far as we're concerned, there are buildings that pose risks to the public and have many visitors,'' said Tortrakul Yomnak, the institute president.

Such buildings included a department store and a shoe shop in Bang Lamphu, a department store in Lat Phrao, a theatre in Siam Square and a tutorial school in front of Ramkhamhaeng University.

``The New World incident will certainly be repeated,'' he said.

He said the Building Control Act, which was outdated, allowed owners of ``problematic'' buildings to appeal against demolition of their properties, while court cases usually took more than a decade to complete.

Although the Interior Ministry introduced a new building control law in 2000 which allowed authorities to demolish risky buildings immediately, it had not been implemented due to red tape, Mr Tortrakul said.

``If the new law is enforced, any risky building can be dismantled right away without a court order. It also requires all building projects to seek the consent of such professional organisations as the Council of Engineers and the Engineering Institute of Thailand before construction,'' he said. ``At present, projects only need approval from state agencies and this leaves room for bribery.''

Deputy Interior Minister Pramual Rujanaseri, meanwhile, said it would speed up demolition work on over 700 buildings around the city which had been illegally modified.

However, the number of illegally modified buildings given by Mr Pramual was much lower than that provided by the city administration's law enforcement department, which put it at 3,300.

Krisada Klantanon, department chief, said the agency had drawn up a demolition plan for problematic buildings, which should be completed in four years.

--Bangkok Post 2004-06-04

[plachon]

Wonder how many of these same engineers have ever signed off on buildings they weren't 100 % sure about safety-wise, as making a fuss would have jeopardized future work prospects? I never cease to be amazed at just how many concrete buildings I see with cracks running up them, even within a year of completion.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know if the owner of that hotel which collapsed in Khorat back around 95 ever did any porridge?

[Goat Roper]

Publish the names, addresses and the owners of all these unsafe 1,000 buildings and they will become useless and no more resistance to being torn down. As long as these buildings are a profit center there will be opposition to tearing them down or closing them.

[englishoak]

1000 in Bangkok ? I think a lot more. But throughout Thailand it must be an awful lot.

[NedKelly]

These people have a responsibility to the public to list the buildings in question....if another collapses and kills some people it will be on their shoulders that responsibility falls !! Time for a class action !

[plachon]

Note, they mention a "theatre in Siam Square" as being ripe for collapse. Well that narrows it down to just 3 cinemas to avoid for starters. You'd think when they doubled the cost of film ticks a few years back, the owner's would have the grace and foresight to put a few more reinforcing beams in place too, rather than just a computer ticketing system and a few new seats.