Engineers call for new buildings to be made earthquake proof

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's engineers institute today called for all new buildings from the country's northern province of Mae Hong Son to the southern region to be made earthquake proof, while urging the Interior Ministry to ban the construction of all buildings within 100 metres of the Andaman coastlines.

Speaking on behalf of the institute, the president, Chadab Patamasut, said that the foundations of all new buildings had to be reinforced to withstand future earthquake damages.

This would put up construction costs by no more than 5-10 percent, he said.

He also called on the Interior Ministry to review planning regulations in the country's six southern provinces affected by last week’s tsunamis--Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun--by banning the construction of all buildings within 100 metres of the shorelines.

The institute has also urged the creation of a national disaster prevention centre which will be able to issue disaster warnings and order the evacuation of people in the event of a natural calamity, with the installation of tsunami warning sirens in all the six provinces hit by the giant waves on 26 December.

The institute has promised to send engineers to the six provinces to assess the extent of the damage and determine the safety of existing structures.

--TNA 2005-01-05

'Waterproof' would be more useful, surely.

I thought that new construction was already technichly 'earthquake proof' (a common misnomer). Does this mean that they're going to not short-cut the building process now?

cv