Older Bangkok high-rise buildings 'a quake risk'

[NCC1701A]

I lived in California all my life. We have the best earthquake building codes in the world.

If you come from California, you will notice how "skinny" the NEW construction of condos and high rises are all over Thailand. It is really scary. There are dozens of condos under construction all around me in Hua Hin. You can see the concrete floors are so thin and the vertical supports and horizontal cross sections are like tooth picks. You see the same thing in new construction in Mexico.

There is a reason why everything is so cheap in Thailand.

This video is a shake test, simulating a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on a properly constructed building.

note the interior shot at 1:35. How would you like to be up 20 floors in Bangkok during this?

why some building collapse and others don't. Resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_wall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Building_Code

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/about/workshops/thailand/downloads/Thailand-workshop-results-new.pdf

[fvw53]

Don't worry foreign condo owners. Thai insurance companies will pay you out quickly and completely.

Will they also pay the expenses for my funeral?

[lostmebike]

up to 17 towers in the capital would topple over, as they were built without appropriate safety measures

'up to' ... I would hazard a guess a lot more than that are at risk but we don't to scare the public too much.

[northernjohn]

Would be wise to tear them down not ?

Big quake every 2500 years ? When was the last one ?

My money says Bangkok will be under water when the next big one hits.

But that piece of reality is not stopping them from building so they should build with an eye to earthquakes.

Here in Chiang Mai we seem to have more quakes than Bangkok. Yes it is a concern as I live on the 17th floor and have been through the last three here in the area. They have been centered in Miramar and one in the Chiang Rai area. Not even close to Bangkok.

[northernjohn]

Don't worry foreign condo owners. Thai insurance companies will pay you out quickly and completely.

Not if you don't have a special clause to include natural disasters in it.

[BlackJack]

all that tonnage of steel, cement pushing down on soft marsh

I think there is more chance of sinking that collapsing

[thumper101]

Would be wise to tear them down not ?

Big quake every 2500 years ? When was the last one ?

The major quake of every 500 years I saw a documentary that the next one is actually about a hundred years late, and they said it could come at any time.

Edited June 9, 2014 by thumper101

[northernjohn]

I lived in California all my life. We have the best earthquake building codes in the world.

If you come from California, you will notice how "skinny" the NEW construction of condos and high rises are all over Thailand. It is really scary. There are dozens of condos under construction all around me in Hua Hin. You can see the concrete floors are so thin and the vertical supports and horizontal cross sections are like tooth picks. You see the same thing in new construction in Mexico.

There is a reason why everything is so cheap in Thailand.

This video is a shake test, simulating a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on a properly constructed building.

note the interior shot at 1:35. How would you like to be up 20 floors in Bangkok during this?

why some building collapse and others don't. Resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_wall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Building_Code

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/about/workshops/thailand/downloads/Thailand-workshop-results-new.pdf

Great video's. Thanks for them.

I have no problem with your claims.

My question is I realize that there is in the neighborhood of a million or more or less earthquakes a year. How many of them are in the 7.5 range.

It is my understanding that there is a terrific amount of difference in between say 7.5 and 7.4 magnitude earth quakes. Also the depth of the quake comes into play as to the amount of area it will be felt.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. In fact please do so.

[MK1]

The ‘Quake risk’ is not only attributed to Bangkok older high rise buildings. Over the last two years, I have observed a significant amount of medium-rise structures built in Phuket that would certainly meet the category of quake risk structures. This is because many them are under 15 metres in height and don’t come under scrutiny unlike those over 15meters which are deemed as high-rise buildings.

This is where the loop-hole exists for unscrupulous builders to take advantage of earthquake and structural design risks in order to save on costs and particularly to avoid scrutiny during the construction process due to the lack of regulation and enforcement.

What you find commonly in Phuket these days, over the last 4years, is newly constructed very long medium rise building structures up to 4-5 stories less than 15m in height.

Usually designed for commercial/ retail use; these upright shoe boxes are poorly constructed and mostly architecturally boring. Many of them have been built on speculation that someone will rent or buy them.

Based on my observations, many of these over supplied empty buildings remain an absolute eye sore to look at and are positioned along the main arterial roads of Phuket, and are also seen to have very thinly constructed concrete column structures. For example, columns approximately 100 x100mm in thickness constructed with also very little steel to aid in structural support.

They usually tend to disguise these dodgy thinly built structures by rendering cement layers over the columns to make them look bigger. My concern is, It will only be a matter time before Phuket also experiences seismic-activity again and then people will start to question the structural integrity of these buildings once they experience a few events.

I fear that one day, because of the loop-holes with respect to earthquake and structural risk design in Thailand, one of these quake risk medium-rise commercial /retail buildings in Phuket will possible also suffer structural failure and collapse like a deck of cards before anyone starts to do anything about it. As history has demonstrated, the quake risk in Thailand is not exclusive to Chiang Rai or Bangkok.

Edited June 9, 2014 by MK1

[Don Aleman]

A 2.5 quake in Bangkok would create the world's largest pile of bricks !

[whybother]

A 2.5 quake in Bangkok would create the world's largest pile of bricks !

A 2.5 quake would feel like a heavy truck driving past the building.

[Maroon Watcher]

.. How about a SAFETY check of ALL Goverment schools for starters.

[whybother]

... double post

Edited June 9, 2014 by whybother

[puipuitom]

I am curious to know what different standards have been applied to 'newer' building that would make them safer than the 17 'older' ones in the article.

Interesting point

I would first check if the 17 were built by thais, and which ones non thai. The corruption is rife and money gets skimmed from projects by the elite, hence poor materials and botched jobs

Is there any Thai building you trust ? Did you see or even heard EVER of a static calculation what a building can have ? And even then, is it really constructed that way or.. with a hand full of Thai baht, if ever any inpection occurred, the eyes of the inspector were turned to his hands ?

I've seen a house being built opposite the house of the parents of my business partner: walls of 4 cm "thick", a steel skeleton which was so thin, we would not allow it for a one season one store summer house.

No wonder a few hundred meters away a house on which a second flour was built, collapsed during the night crushing all in.

No Thai gives a damn about the construction stability of his house as long as it looks beautiful on the outside.

[Bernard Flint]

Pattaya/Jomtien and the east side have earth quakes every day, so you Bangkok expats dont come here, especialy as there is so much red to hide from

[Jim walker]

I give you this envelope with cash and you sign off these safety certificates for my building , Job done all safety features perfect as essential to Thai standards.

[Dap]

Would be wise to tear them down not ?

Big quake every 2500 years ? When was the last one ?

Foolish to think they will ever be torn down, BUT ... Unfortunately,

an adequate earthquake will have no problem doing it for them.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Dap

[stunderw]

Mm gt

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand em

[EricBerg]

Life in Bangkok just is thrilling. The San Andreas fault doesn't stop people from living in the Bay Area either. Chances of being killed by BKK traffic are way much higher than getting caught by a heavy quake while in a vulnerable building.