Earthquake Rocks Bangkok: Building Collapses with 40 people inside

[jojothai]

35 minutes ago, homeseeker said:

I am scheduled to move and rent a low rise apartment in Silom after Songkran. (deposit paid contract not signed )

The  owner says:
"after further inspection no damage after assessment. All structure is sound and unaffected. Our low rise building is safe to accommodate"

 

I have messaged some acquaintances in same area who say no damage where they stay.

 

I am minded moving in as per agreement.

 

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas?

 

You lose the deposit.
But where else are you going to rent?
Leave Thailand? Perhaps go as far east as you can. Say Pattaya?

 

I recommend that you firstly go to the apartment and see the condition for yourself.
Check there is no damage in the interior walls, in condo and particularly in corridors at ends of corridors or at external walls near columns. Its not superficial minor cracks in the wall finish that are a problem, many buildings may have them already.
Concern should be any signs of structural damage to concrete frame, or damage in utility areas 
Look at adjacent buildings for any signs of damage.

If they have a car park, usually on lower floors go there and look at the columns to see if there are any signs of recent cracking, cracks from movement quite often displace and should be obvious. 
Go to the swimming pool if they have one and see if that has any signs of damage. 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 minutes ago, Don Giovanni said:

Was it founded by the endangered animal hunter...

No.

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, Don Giovanni said:

Was it founded by the endangered animal hunter or another Thai?

 

The Don.

 

It was another Thai,  Chaijudh Karnasuta.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 minutes ago, Don Giovanni said:

Was it founded by the endangered animal hunter

You mean the one who served his prison sentence and paid multi-million baht fines after pleading guilty, yes?

[Don Giovanni]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You mean the one who served his prison sentence and paid multi-million baht fines after pleading guilty, yes?

Does that mean what he did was OK?

 

The Don.

[Don Giovanni]

7 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

It was another Thai,  Chaijudh Karnasuta.

ahhh, that daddy is it?

 

just another spoiled, thai trust fund brat who has never done an honest days work in his life.

 

The Don.

[RayWright]

12 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

So what?  It was founded by an Italian and a Thai

True, but still having a Western associated country in the company name does lend itself to a different degree of respectability.

 

[homeseeker]

52 minutes ago, Rolo89 said:

It's way too early to declare the structure is sound. So that's a lie from them.

 

The structure could be sound, but they're lying now as there has not been enough time for it to be properly inspected other than a visual check which doesn't show the full extent.

 Many thanks your helpful reply.

 

Nevertheless, and currently, I am minded to move  as scheduled.

I have it in written form that the building is safe. If that proves incorrect, I can take action against the landlord for what I hope will be substantial damages.

If after I move in the building collapses, I hope to not be at home!

 

😗

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, Don Giovanni said:

ahhh, that daddy is it?

 

 

Possibly.. they share the same surname.

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, homeseeker said:

 Many thanks your helpful reply.

 

Nevertheless, and currently, I am minded to move  as scheduled.

I have it in written form that the building is safe. If that proves incorrect, I can take action against the landlord for what I hope will be substantial damages.

If after I move in the building collapses, I hope to not be at home!

 

😗

 

ask for a copy of the inspection report,keep it with the written form you have that says the building is safe.

[stupidfarang]

3 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

Not in my recent experience. 

 

Not to mention the planning and layout of UK roads is light years ahead of Thailand, also the UK has had proper roads for longer, and has older buildings and city layouts to contend with as well. 

true, agree with the layout and planning plus town and city layouts to contend with. What I was refering to are the pot holes, in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire is where my experince is based.

[Liverpool Lou]

8 minutes ago, RayWright said:

22 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

So what?  It was founded by an Italian and a Thai

True, but still having a Western associated country in the company name does lend itself to a different degree of respectability.

Does it...how?  Has the company ever had a reputation of anything less than respectability?

[zackxx]

18 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

'Kin ridiculous Thai-bashing over-generalisation.   How come all the other buildings, completed and still under construction, didn't come down also if that were the case?

That only one  building in Bangkok collapsed may be partly due to the fact that it was still being constructed and that high rise construction in Bangkok is largely sound and buildings there are designed to withstand moderately sized earthquakes. Newly poured concrete never stops curing. It continues to get stronger as time goes on. It takes at least 2 months for concrete to reach a strength where you can start building on top of it, longer in very hot weather.

 

I've heard also that the collapsed building was designed and built by the Chinese "The Only Building to Collapse in Bangkok’s Earthquake Was Built by China"

 

[Ralf001]

11 minutes ago, RayWright said:

True, but still having a Western associated country in the company name does lend itself to a different degree of respectability.

 

 

All names in the org chart appear to be Thai/Asian.

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Don Giovanni said:

1 hour ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

@alex8912

@richard_smith237

 

Who is the fool now?

 

1 hour ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

6 high rises in BKK already declared unsafe. Some of them were very new and were supposed to withstand this.

 

The condo market in BKK is going to have dire issues.

 

https://www.bernama.com/en/news.php/?id=2407409

 

YOU....  who ridiculed Thailands building standards...   the fact that so many buildings held is testament to the building standards.

 

You can't compare to Japan becasue Japan is on a Major tectonic plate boundary, Thailand is not, just like London, Paris, Madrid etc, the building codes and requirements are different.

 

 

Thailand is doing exactly the right thing...   they're inspecting the buildings.

 

I'm sure more will / maybe found to be structurally unsound - as will some roads etc - but the vast majority will not.

 

 

None of that makes your sweeping generalisation that Thailands building standards are substandard - your comment was still bigoted.

 

Had this same magnitude of Earthquate struck London, Paris or Madrid etc (4-5 Mw) some of those buildings too would have suffered structural damage. 

 

 

BUT... the imagery on the internet at the moment is of 'superficial' damage, tiles etc.... not ultrasonic images of primary structural components of buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cynic1]

I feel very sad about this and feel for those that experienced it. The people affected must be in shock. Imagine those in high rise buildings. That experience would be  a nightmare. For those that died RIP and for those that were injured I hope you have a quick and full recovery. For the rescuers you are brave.

 

I have never experienced an earthquake and never want to. I have seen the effects of one in Christchurch NZ, magnitude 6.3,  just before and 6 months after. It happened in 2011 Christchurch  was built on swamp land similar to Bangkok.  There were 185 deaths and thousands injured, which is a large number as the population was no where near Bangkok's population. In fact they were thinking of moving the city. Earthquakes are very rare in NZ. The last major one was 1855.

[csmith]

 

[MikeandDow]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

YOU....  who ridiculed Thailands building standards...   the fact that so many buildings held is testament to the building standards.

 

You can't compare to Japan becasue Japan is on a Major tectonic plate boundary, Thailand is not, just like London, Paris, Madrid etc, the building codes and requirements are different.

 

 

Thailand is doing exactly the right thing...   they're inspecting the buildings.

 

I'm sure more will / maybe found to be structurally unsound - as will some roads etc - but the vast majority will not.

 

 

None of that makes your sweeping generalisation that Thailands building standards are substandard - your comment was still bigoted.

 

Had this same magnitude of Earthquate struck London, Paris or Madrid etc (4-5 Mw) some of those buildings too would have suffered structural damage. 

 

 

BUT... the imagery on the internet at the moment is of 'superficial' damage, tiles etc.... not ultrasonic images of primary structural components of buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thailands building standards are not in question same as thailands quality and safety standards  they have a plethora of procedure  but what is in question is the implemetation and enforcement of these standards  the all might baht will get you approval for a design good or bad  stafety standards  not implemeted have seen many thai workers on site with fip flop no work boot seen welds no face mask just close there eyes welding we all know the reason safety cost tooooo much money asian lives are cheap building standards are by passed every day to keep the money in the bosses pocket  oh we will put a bit less concrete in the mix who will know , I did have the unforgettable experience  of being a quality Manager overseeing a project and Italian-Thai Development Corporation being the contractor  well it was a wake up call never seen such bad quality of workmanship no pride in what they were doing, workmen Thais and Farang. no dought there are a small few who are decient contractors in Thailnd but the call of the all might baht is the problem

[Happy happy]

Just interested to know : do most  building/home insurance policies in Thailand cover damage by earthquake?

Or is it excluded?

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, MikeandDow said:

Thailands building standards are not in question same as thailands quality and safety standards  they have a plethora of procedure  but what is in question is the implemetation and enforcement of these standards  the all might baht will get you approval for a design good or bad  stafety standards  not implemeted have seen many thai workers on site with fip flop no work boot seen welds no face mask just close there eyes welding we all know the reason safety cost tooooo much money asian lives are cheap building standards are by passed every day to keep the money in the bosses pocket  oh we will put a bit less concrete in the mix who will know , I did have the unforgettable experience  of being a quality Manager overseeing a project and Italian-Thai Development Corporation being the contractor  well it was a wake up call never seen such bad quality of workmanship no pride in what they were doing, workmen Thais and Farang. no dought there are a small few who are decient contractors in Thailnd but the call of the all might baht is the problem

 

Your argument is made up of two facets

1) Workers wearing PPE

2) Buildings meeting structural code

 

We all see workers not meeting the basic PPE standards walking out of constructing sides past 'Safety First' signs....     and many draw the parralell that a shortcuthere leads to a shortcut in the construction itself....

 

But... I think there are additional facets here - structural integrity and finishing.

 

There can be no shortcuts with structural integrity the industry simply cannot get away wit this - if there were we'd see buildings falling all the time.....   this is not the case. 

 

But, we do see an abundance of cosmetic flaws down to shoddy workmanship in even the best and most expensive of buildings - Thailand is not alone in this, its prevalent in the west too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, Happy happy said:

Just interested to know : do most  building/home insurance policies in Thailand cover damage by earthquake?

Or is it excluded?

 

I think many if not most such policies may include a 'force majeure' clause...

 

That said - I think many buildings also have a 'sinking fund' which is (often related to condominiums, apartments, or housing estates) and is collected from co-owners or residents to cover major repairs, replacements, or upgrades of common property or infrastructure in the future.

 

I don't think the 'sinking fund' covers structural damage, but may cover necessary repairs to cosmetic damage (thats as I understand it - I could be mistaken).

[Red Forever]

4 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

You want to feel what it's like being inside a tall building when it collapses?

 

That how you get your kicks, is it?

 

Talk about living dangerously!

You can count me out.

 

The Don.

Okay Bob.

[MikeandDow]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Your argument is made up of two facets

1) Workers wearing PPE

2) Buildings meeting structural code

 

We all see workers not meeting the basic PPE standards walking out of constructing sides past 'Safety First' signs....     and many draw the parralell that a shortcuthere leads to a shortcut in the construction itself....

 

But... I think there are additional facets here - structural integrity and finishing.

 

There can be no shortcuts with structural integrity the industry simply cannot get away wit this - if there were we'd see buildings falling all the time.....   this is not the case. 

 

But, we do see an abundance of cosmetic flaws down to shoddy workmanship in even the best and most expensive of buildings - Thailand is not alone in this, its prevalent in the west too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

agree most part  but there are shortcuts done every day you can not just apply structural integrity to buildings alone its on the whole of the construction industry, cranes falling of bulidings, flyover beams collapsing, mining caves collapsing,  pit holes in the road due to no compaction, guys falling of roof due to no safety harnes  The aduit bulding was way behind schedule so what you are saying that there was no shortcuts taken which i doubt knowing this contractor,   I am not thai bashing but the thai construction industry as a whole need integrity but untill corution if fixed it will not happen

[rabas]

2 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It's unlikely Bangkok will be affected by another earthquake for many decades.  I can't think of any reason not to move in.

 

In this particular case that may not be true, but only because of Burma's particular geology.

 

The Sagaing fault in Burma is a major straight 1200 km "strike-slip fault" very similar to the famous (1200 km) San Andreas fault in California. But unlike the San Andreas fault, the Sagaing fault is known to produce cascading major earthquakes, one after another, spaced a year or so apart. One might guess this could happen after a long quiet period, just like before now:

 

It's history of M7+ earthquakes (1906 M7.0, 1912 M7.5, 1929 M7.0, 1930 M7.2, 1930 M7.3, 1931 M7.6, 1946 M7.7, 1956 M7.1, quiet) !

 

Worse, yesterday's quake only partially ruptured a segment of the fault that 'should/could have' ruptured but didn't. Oops. For more detail below are two similar historical lists, differing only in fine criteria, both show this clustering.:   

List 1 Grok

1. 1839, near Mandalay – M7.5–8.0 (estimated)
2. 1930, May 23, near Bago – M7.3
3. 1930, Dec 4, near Bago – M7.2 (noted as a distinct event in some sources)
4. 1946, Aug 12, near Tagaung – M7.7
5. 1946, Sep 12, near Tagaung – M7.5
6. 1956, Jul 8, near Sagaing – M7.0
7. 2025, Mar 28, near Mandalay – M7.7

List 2 earthquake paper

1. 1906 – M7.0
2. 1912 – M7.5
3. 1929 – M7.0
4. 1930 – M7.2
5. 1930 – M7.3
6. 1931 – M7.6
7. 1946 – M7.7
8. 1956 – M7.

 

So when my Thai wife starting saying we must store things in safer places, etc.  I laughed and said, 5555 there won't be another earthquake like this for decades!  This morning I went and apologized... 

[Lostinthought]

Just from a cursory glance i could tell some of the high rise buildings would not be habitable anymore. What made this quake worse was the duration and the repeated quakes pushing an already moving building past the point of flexibility it could not tolerate. The amount of flex i saw with some buildings can not happen with concrete structure buildings which is reinforced with stairwells which are generally concrete and structural - and visible cracks diagonally suggest serious structural and foundation issues.

 

My condo in a building only eight floors is fine with no issues - i made sure to buy from a reputable builder - it is going on two decades and looks similar to when new and all the new high rises nearby after a few years show structural issues. Buildings below eight floors (low rise) are different from buildings over eight floors (high rise) require substantial more costs in structure. Above 60 ish floors are superstructures. They require a lot more engineering. But the issue is the material (type) and flex (degree of sway). High rise buildings in an earthquake zone without proper quake design is a no no. What was the guideline. Someone said able to withstand a 7. We have known for some time we are heading into serious sun activity and this year would be a bad one for quakes and volcanic activity. Too many developers were building high to maximize returns. Mud would have dampened the quake as some research suggests building on a bed of mud for earthquake zones with a structure that is strong enough to move without collapsing. I am guessing that it was the rhythm and duration that was the major cause to these buildings - not the severity.

[Aussie999]

1 hour ago, jojothai said:

Dont be silly or alarmist. if there is no quality or standards surely everything would have collapsed. 
Is that what happened? How many other buildings  collapsed?
BKK is not an earthquake prone zone and most buildings will not have design or detailng for earthquakes so it may actually be a very positive sign that there were no other major collapses.
Edit, and correction, i have checked and latest regulations, introduced in 2021, mandate seismic-resistant designs for buildings in Bangkok.  So there are design standards.
However so many buildings in Bangkok are pre-2021 and did not have the regulations, yet the stood up to the quake ok.

What do you know about building design? Unless you know what you are talking about, its wrong to criticise .
Regardless of the poor standards of construction. Its wrong to paint verything with the same brush.

For the building that collapsed it is hard to understand why it should have collapsed. it was nearly complete.
Its possible there may be flaws in the design complying with standards, but not necessaraily no standards.
Maybe poor standard of construction, or lack of adequate reinforcement detailing (that is normally done by the contractor not the designer). Then the review and supervision of the work needs to also be reviewed. 

I think you need to be reminded the epi-centre was 1400 kms away, and look at the damage in Bangkok, if the epi-centre was closer, the damage would certainly been much higher. usually 1400kms would be hardly noticeable.

[Ralf001]

Just now, Aussie999 said:

I think you need to be reminded the epi-centre was 1400 kms away, and look at the damage in Bangkok, if the epi-centre was closer, the damage would certainly been much higher. usually 1400kms would be hardly noticeable.

 

Chiangmai was a lot closer to the epicentre, how  damage there ?

[ikke1959]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Would I?  But I wasn't talking about Thais, I was referring to Americans.

Indeed, but you pretend that you know everything and comment on everybody without even knowing if what you say is true...Check with here in Thailand with the people living here and you have proof or don't say anything about others if you can't proof it

[Aussie999]

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Chiangmai was a lot closer to the epicentre, how  damage there ?

I have no idea.. I do know Kanchanaburi, did not feel much of a tremor.

[John Drake]

17 hours ago, MikeandDow said:

This building was built by Chinese construction company .. Guess who was their Thai Nominee..... Thaskin

 

 

Tofu building techniques have now come to Thailand.