Lack of Steel Reinforcement in Pillars Leads to Building Damage, Expert Warns

[Tailwagsdog]

The communist Chinese built a brand new office building in Port Moresby and the PNG authorities have not given it a completion certificate due to shoddy construction. It stands empty. Does this mean the Papua New Guinea building standards & authority are superior to Thailand?

Just google it and see for yourself.

[thaibeachlovers]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

In summary, a critical flaw has been exposed in how certain Thai structures have been built, potentially laying the groundwork for future devastation if not addressed.

LOL. IMO almost everyone on here knows that such happens in Thailand.

[kwonitoy]

Any large construction site has inspectors that represent the client/owner, sometimes they are far and few between, lazy, or easy to circumvent 

I have been called on to X-ray the walls on several high rise condos and office towers in the US and Canada

The objective was to count the number of rebar pieces in a given area, the construction plans will have a procedure for this.

In all the buildings I examined NOT ONE had the required number of rebar in it.

And this is in first world countries.

Steel is expensive and it's going to be covered with concrete, who's to know?

[RocketDog]

15 hours ago, Cat Boy said:

Since the article never used the words, China nor Chinese, odd that you would implicate that country and those nationals specifically. 

 

Are you a Thai construction industry insider? 

 

Or just inherently sinophobic; seeing the dreaded "Red Terror" everywhere you look? 

Yes.

I have experience with Chinese goods of many types. Shoddy, inferior, crap junk.

[JackGats]

Actually from the pictures showing swaying high-rises during the earthquake, I'm rather impressed by Thai building standards, also given the poor substrate they have to build on in Bangkok (waterlogged soil?).

 

Note that the earthquake was far away but shallow. Shallow earthquakes are more destructive all else equal. In this case it seemed only the high-rises were affected, which has to do with resonnance (higher buildings swaying in unisson with the earthquake's wavelength). 

 

This is akin to the 1985 Mexico earthquake: "Buildings of 5 to 15 stories were most affected, as their interaction with the shock waves created a harmonic resonance, exacerbating the degree of swaying. More than 400 buildings collapsed, and thousands more were damaged."

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

23 hours ago, ozz1 said:

Suprise surprise Chinese building companies don't care about Thai procedures

Suprise suprise these buildings are as old as decades in CM that are mentioned. As well it happened to even a condo build by Supalai, a respected developer. With other words; you talk virtually most buildings that are not compliant or safe for any next big quake. 

It is just the new big skyscrapers that all meet those standards. Or that is what we are told as clearly that didn't apply to the Supalai one either.

[matchar]

16 hours ago, statman78 said:

I agree that there are some Thai and Chinese companies that cut corners and do not follow codes.  If you look around and you will see hundreds of high rises that are still standing with little or no damage.  Our 27 story building has been examined by structural engineers and everything is fine.  There a number of reliable construction companies working in Bangkok.  We did a lot of research before we bought our condo years ago.

So which construction companies would you recommend? Thanks

[ericbj]

On 4/8/2025 at 8:24 AM, worgeordie said:

Might look OK on outside, but to save money ,only reason , lacking iron reinforcement

on the inside , builders hoping the buildings stay up long enough ,until guarantee is

up on them .then Earthquake and everything is there to see , substandard work.

 

regards Worgeordie 

 What about lacking cement?  Could be low cement-to-water ratio, maybe from adding too much water to reduce vibration needed?

I recall having read somewhere a mention of non-adherance of concrete to reinforcing bars.

Potential causes?

[pgrahmm]

I was 4 miles away from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta 7.8 earthquake when it occured.....

The mountain didn't slide along highway 9 = it jumped 50-60 feet.....On that road the median barrier is solid concrete about 4ft wide at the base & about 1ft wide at the top reinforced with 1.0" to 1.5" rebar laced through it.....The earthquake shattered through that concrete like it wasn't even there....You could follow the cracks where the ground vibration entered the base of the base & exited out the top twisting the rebar like a pretzel while forcing it upwards and lifting it straight up 3 to 4 ft above the concrete following the vibrations.....You could see the vibration twists and turns.....

The LP quake was both a rolling & up and down quake....Some houses cut in half - half upright & semi ok but off foundation and the other half toppled and downed sideways....The destruction was incredible to witness and experience first hand.....The shock waves were 3ft high rumbling through the streets like waves on an ocean.... Fortunately, it ended up I was in what the Army Corp of Engineers classified as the safest building in the area by a fluke in it's construction.....

Bangkok got pretty lucky this time around given the nature of a lot of Thai construction methods and the use formed concrete columns in many structures....

If Bangkok had been as close to the epicenter as I was that day there would still be rubble......

 

 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

I was 4 miles away from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta 7.8 earthquake when it occured.....

The mountain didn't slide along highway 9 = it jumped 50-60 feet.....On that road the median barrier is solid concrete about 4ft wide at the base & about 1ft wide at the top reinforced with 1.0" to 1.5" rebar laced through it.....The earthquake shattered through that concrete like it wasn't even there....You could follow the cracks where the ground vibration entered the base of the base & exited out the top twisting the rebar like a pretzel while forcing it upwards and lifting it straight up 3 to 4 ft above the concrete following the vibrations.....You could see the vibration twists and turns.....

The LP quake was both a rolling & up and down quake....Some houses cut in half - half upright & semi ok but off foundation and the other half toppled and downed sideways....The destruction was incredible to witness and experience first hand.....The shock waves were 3ft high rumbling through the streets like waves on an ocean.... Fortunately, it ended up I was in what the Army Corp of Engineers classified as the safest building in the area by a fluke in it's construction.....

Bangkok got pretty lucky this time around given the nature of a lot of Thai construction methods and the use formed concrete columns in many structures....

If Bangkok had been as close to the epicenter as I was that day there would still be rubble......

 

Great story!  But I think you were probably on Santa Cruz Highway 15, which has heavy concrete barriers. Highway 9 is a scenic 2 lane road that also goes to Santa Cruz. No barriers. I used to ride my bike along there all the time. 

 

But your call for Bangkok's demise is unfounded. Along that highway you were virtually on top of the San Andreas fault running NS and 4 miles from the epicenter of a 6.9 magnitude quake.

 

The recent 7.7 Burma earthquake was between 700 and 1000 km away along a fault similar to the San Andreas and was a near worst case for Bangkok for a few reasons. Bangkok is not  near such large faults and Bangkok's angle from Burma's Sagaing fault was near optimum for Bangkok damage. Engineers I've talk to said it would be extremely unlikely to have a worse quake here.  Since only 3 Bangkok buildings were closed, any future quake is likely to cause the widespread damage you imagine.

[statman78]

23 hours ago, matchar said:

So which construction companies would you recommend? Thanks

It’s been about 14 years since we looked into different construction companies.  Right now is a good time to look at different high rises being built and high rises that sustained little our no damage.  If everything looks good and the company has been around for awhile there’s a good chance that they follow the building codes.

[Rampant Rabbit]

On 4/10/2025 at 8:34 AM, statman78 said:

It’s been about 14 years since we looked into different construction companies.  Right now is a good time to look at different high rises being built and high rises that sustained little our no damage.  If everything looks good and the company has been around for awhile there’s a good chance that they follow the building codes.

Id give Rhythm Sukhumvit 50 a miss the place is  a mess big cracks in walls, broken window panes, fallen ceilings huge amount of now leaking water pipes, the condo my Wife is in Leluk is virtually unscathed and I was in it at the time on a high floor

[statman78]

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Id give Rhythm Sukhumvit 50 a miss the place is  a mess big cracks in walls, broken window panes, fallen ceilings huge amount of now leaking water pipes, the condo my Wife is in Leluk is virtually unscathed and I was in it at the time on a high floor

Quite a bit of serious damage. Has the building been inspected and are people still living there?

 

This is what I found after a quick search

 

 

[Rampant Rabbit]

10 hours ago, statman78 said:

Quite a bit of serious damage. Has the building been inspected and are people still living there?

 

This is what I found after a quick search

 

 

Wifer  sells  and rents  condos Rhythm is a mess she has the job of trying to get this fixed with a  lot of owners just not wanting to do it or moaning about the cost. I dont know if they are still living there, but I think so,   shes got 10 rooms to fix and shes one of numerous agents there, this is just her stock but her friends are in similar positions. That buildings  a  mess and many rooms  have damaged water pipes thus damaging other rooms  under them etc etc, so even if you got no damage you may well now have water damage.  Many cant close the doors  in their rooms.

[watchcat]

On 4/8/2025 at 2:07 AM, webfact said:

pointed out a severe construction flaw in buildings across Bangkok and Chiang Mai after a massive earthquake hit on March 28. The root of the issue? Columns that haven’t been reinforced with steel.

 

Correct,  bamboo doesn't work any more -

[Rampant Rabbit]

This was Rhythm going full swing, think she  was just on her way there when it happened , the  glasss  surround and other stuff got swept away