Seismologist Warns of Blind Faults in Northern Thailand

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Seismologist Warns of Blind Faults in Northern Thailand

 

BANGKOK – A prominent seismologist at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Dr. Pennung Warnitchai, has warned Authorities in Northern and Western Provinces that any new building construction in the region should put more emphasis on earthquake-resistant engineering to limit the damage if they are hit by quakes.

 

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Engineering Institute of Thailand and the Thailand Research Fund, Dr. Warnitchai said buildings and homes are vulnerable to shaking as a result of powerful earthquakes and that “blind” faults that have not been officially recorded post a threat in these provinces.

 

He told the “Earthquake Management and Disaster Mitigation” seminar that it is understood among seismic wave scientists that earthquakes could happen anywhere and anytime. Even in places that are not located close to faults.

 

Saying there are many “blind” faults under the earth which cannot be detected or their locations established by seismologists.

 

Full story: http://www.chiangraitimes.com/seismologist-warns-of-blind-faults-in-northern-thailand.html

 

-- © Copyright Chiang Rai Times 2016-12-05

[NongKhaiKid]

Earthquake-resistant engineering v maximum profits.

No Contest.

[bubba]

It's not just Dr. Pennung. I know an American seismologist who had done some research about Chiang Mai and surmised that the Mae Chan fault could be particularly dangerous. 

 

Also about the Mae Chan fault:

 

The fault is seen as the most potentially damaging one in the country in the event of an earthquake, and it may have been affected by major quakes in China's Yunnan province back in 2009 as well as last year's incident in Laos and Myanmar's Nam Ma fault. Today, Mae Chan fault remains quiet as stress continues to build up. Historical records show that the fault unleashed its power over 1,000 years ago, leading to the fall of the great city of Yonok.

 

http://www.cicc.chula.ac.th/en/2012-04-26-04-31-26/203-likelihood-of-earthquakes-in-thailand.html

 

A Japanese study found it is capable of producing a 7.0 magnitude quake and is considered as one of two the most "worrying" faults in Thailand.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Chan_Fault

[trogers]

I wonder how many farang villas are built to resist even a six pointer...

[xen]

I have been informed  by a few Thais ( in the know of course) that the earth tremors and quakes in the North are due to foreign powers testing nuclear weapons underground in the area.    Really hard to keep a straight face.

[DuiDui48]

2 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Earthquake-resistant engineering v maximum profits.

No Contest.

Agree,no contest..they can't even bother to put a couple of layer of paint on a 4.million house..Earthquake-resistant..my a**.

 

Have a really Good Morning everyone on TV..greetings from a wouderful Udon-Thani.

[Mitker]

I was living in a modern house in Sansai when a earthquake hit the area around 2008. It was very local but pretty strong too (I guess it means happening at reduced depth; the underground noise was impressive) and everyone in the moobaan rushed out of their homes. After the minute or so it lasted I checked the entire house for damages and - at my surprise - couldn't find a single crack.

 

It seems that the concrete skeleton design Thais adopt to build such modern houses is quite efficient in such situation.

[daveAustin]

^ That area hasn't received a biggy. Typically 3s and 4s. See if there's any cracks after a 6 or 7.

[Linden]

1 hour ago, trogers said:

I wonder how many farang villas are built to resist even a six pointer...

Pavements cant handle rain.

Buildings earthquakes no chance

[trogers]

23 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

^ That area hasn't received a biggy. Typically 3s and 4s. See if there's any cracks after a 6 or 7.

 

I would bet there would not be a single crack...only rubbles...

[rebelplatoon]

Lots of people here in Chiang mai build houses that are earth quake resistant. The mae chan line runs just outside Sankhampaeng district. For the town of Chiang mai about 50 ks away. Further down it runs nearly straight through Lamphun. I live about 80 k from Sankhampaeng and have an earthquake resistant house. By the way: in the Mae Khong delta is the Tha Khaek fault, capable of the same destructive quakes. In countries like these one should always be prepared. Better safe than sorry. 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

It seems that one way or another,  over the next few years, Thailand will be shaken to its foundations.

[Ricardo]

47 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

^ That area hasn't received a biggy. Typically 3s and 4s. See if there's any cracks after a 6 or 7.

 

But we did have a 5.2 a few years back, on our local fault, MaeRim-SanSai-DoiSaket.

 

My own house had one crack as a result.

[jaltsc]

"...any new building construction in the region should put more emphasis on earthquake-resistant engineering..."

 

"Somchai....More bamboo supports....The cheapest you can find."
 

[Belzybob]

[Stargeezr]

Good  luck to all those who already have their houses built.

  Get a good carpenter and do not be cheap, to those who

are just getting their houses built today.

Geezer

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Tectonic faults or government faults? 

They both make you "Shake rattle and roll"

[elgordo38]

3 hours ago, trogers said:

I wonder how many farang villas are built to resist even a six pointer...

Ah the walls of Jericho

[Tonawatchee]

The build up of Naga Fireballs could be causing fault lines to exceed their elastic limit.

[toofarnorth]

I live in Maechan and there is already a crack down the back of the house , I blame the builder but when we get the next quake our second hongnam will be in the adjacent rice field I suspect.

[laislica]

2 hours ago, Mitker said:

I was living in a modern house in Sansai when a earthquake hit the area around 2008. It was very local but pretty strong too (I guess it means happening at reduced depth; the underground noise was impressive) and everyone in the moobaan rushed out of their homes. After the minute or so it lasted I checked the entire house for damages and - at my surprise - couldn't find a single crack.

 

It seems that the concrete skeleton design Thais adopt to build such modern houses is quite efficient in such situation.

 

Ya think?

We have a house construction based on a concrete pillar system but, when we fitted a nodding fan to one of the main pillars, the bracket simply fell out of the wall, exposing some rebar which was sitting in a cavity in the concrete.

I suppose it would have helped if the contractor had used concrete with the correct amount of cement?
Had used a vibrator to remove voids but not so that all the larger stones sank?

Not too much water etc, etc.

 

One of the benefits of bamboo (or wood) is that it bends and allows lots of movement....

Have a look at why multi story pergodas don't break even in severe earth quakes.....

 

Japan has been struck by magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes a staggering 46 times since the pagoda at the Horyu-Ji Temple was built in 607AD. So, how did the 122 foot tall structure stay upright through all that shaking?

http://gizmodo.com/5846501/how-japans-oldest-wooden-building-is-still-standing

 

1 hour ago, jaltsc said:

"...any new building construction in the region should put more emphasis on earthquake-resistant engineering..."

 

"Somchai....More bamboo supports....The cheapest you can find."
 

 

[laislica]

27 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

I live in Maechan and there is already a crack down the back of the house , I blame the builder but when we get the next quake our second hongnam will be in the adjacent rice field I suspect.

 

Is your house slowly sinking, one corner or side first?
Do doors begin to jam and no longer look square in their frames?

Did the fixed window in the downstairs hongnam crack for no apparent reason.....

We have two houses in the same moobaan, both are doing this.

Every driveway to every house is sinking by at least 6 inches in 5 years.

I should mention that we are in an end house of a block of 6 houses.

 

Another moobaan, built by the same construction company a few years before and is in the same condition, but more advanced.

My wife simply accepts this as normal and makes no complaint - mustn't upset the builder......

Her brother and his family live in the first moobaan. and his MIL and other family members.

I have had to learn to accept it too - happy wife, happy life!

Our investment in these properties is to give her an income after I pass.

When I "Had a go at the builder" she was unhappy for days.

Lesson learned - up to you, and if that makes her happy - who am I to complain?

I note that she takes care to consider if the walls are strong enough to support the weight of aircon units etc.

 

We have a friend who lives in Changwat Kamphaen Phet, recently married and had a typical single story house built.

That small shake a couple of years ago caused many cracks and I worry that one good door slam could bring the whole thing down!

For sure, a bamboo house would outlast it!

 

 

[John F Gill]

I was living in Tokyo during the 3rd most powerful earthquake on this planet in recorded human history 9.0 magnitude plus all the 6 to 7.0 magnitude aftershocks for months on end and not a single building fell except for a parking garage in Machida.  So yeah he's right they most definitely do need "earthquake-resistant engineering".  All the lives were lost because of the tsunami in Sendai triggered by the earthquake not because of the earthquake itself.  The tsunami was the what caused all the structural damage and that was just in Sendai.  The earthquake itself hit the entire mainland of Japan and my TV didn't even fall over.  I expected to come home from work that night and find everything in my house destroyed but no everything was just fine, and that earthquake hit Tokyo where we were just as hard as Sendai.  The quake hit the entire mainland just as hard it lasted for almost FIVE WHOLE MINUTES!  Shaking like I've never felt before and I lived in Tokyo for years and felt a lot of earthquakes but nothing like that.  We'd get 6 pointers all the time like they were nothing but they'd usually only last 10 to 20 seconds not minutes.  Japan most definitely has the best earthquake-resistant engineering in the world.  If that 9.0 magnitude earthquake would have hit California there would have been massive deviation and structural damage.  If only the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant had not melted down the only real damage would have been from the tsunami.  

[Kiwiken]

Thai Buildings are woefully under strength. In the event of a major shake of reasonable length 35 seconds to 1.5 minutes I would expect significant damage and loss of life. Japan adopted many earthquake resistant ideas pioneered in NZ. Sadly NZ did not. I have seen precious little reinforcing going into Thai Buildings I would doubt their viability in anything 6 and above

[toofarnorth]

2 hours ago, laislica said:

 

Is your house slowly sinking, one corner or side first?
Do doors begin to jam and no longer look square in their frames?

Did the fixed window in the downstairs hongnam crack for no apparent reason.....

We have two houses in the same moobaan, both are doing this.

Every driveway to every house is sinking by at least 6 inches in 5 years.

I should mention that we are in an end house of a block of 6 houses.

 

Another moobaan, built by the same construction company a few years before and is in the same condition, but more advanced.

My wife simply accepts this as normal and makes no complaint - mustn't upset the builder......

Her brother and his family live in the first moobaan. and his MIL and other family members.

I have had to learn to accept it too - happy wife, happy life!

Our investment in these properties is to give her an income after I pass.

When I "Had a go at the builder" she was unhappy for days.

Lesson learned - up to you, and if that makes her happy - who am I to complain?

I note that she takes care to consider if the walls are strong enough to support the weight of aircon units etc.

 

We have a friend who lives in Changwat Kamphaen Phet, recently married and had a typical single story house built.

That small shake a couple of years ago caused many cracks and I worry that one good door slam could bring the whole thing down!

For sure, a bamboo house would outlast it!

 

 

It is I think the wall between the bedroom and the hongnam , the cracks in the toilet are as big as the ones outside and the cracks run both sides of the dividing wall. We got hold of the builder before he completed all the work and he said the house is ok as the foundations were more than big enough , I think our house might be built on sand and the bit above the rice fields is built on clay.my TW doesn't give a frying freck even though it is her house built on my cash.  

[laislica]

1 hour ago, toofarnorth said:

It is I think the wall between the bedroom and the hongnam , the cracks in the toilet are as big as the ones outside and the cracks run both sides of the dividing wall. We got hold of the builder before he completed all the work and he said the house is ok as the foundations were more than big enough , I think our house might be built on sand and the bit above the rice fields is built on clay.my TW doesn't give a frying freck even though it is her house built on my cash.

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a bonus - two houses for the price of one LOL

Seriously though, it seems that many Thais find this to be normal and acceptable.

 

We just had an extension to the kitchen - a laundry room.

I suggested to my wife that the builder drill into the foundations of the kitchen and insert some rebar to link the extension.

Of course this was not done.

He installed the door frame as a dead fit to the door. Guess how it fits after it was painted......

I just kept away from it and handed over the cash LOL

Wifey did moan to me about his bad work, but said nothing to him.....

A concreted area outside the laundry room door was very nicely finished off in a blue colour.

Well, that was as laid but by the end of the job it was covered with spots of paint, other concrete and cement used during the construction.

I suggested, loudly in his hearing, in Thai, that she withold some money to pay for the concrete to be cleaned or redone or he should do it before being paid.

I just got a dirty look from TW and it was never discussed again LOL

 

About 3 years ago, I laid a small patio in the garden.

As I was laying it out and gathering materials, my wife took one look and said:

Don't do such a good job of it, I will probably change my mind about it in a year or two.....

 

Perhaps only temples are supposed to be permanent in Thailand?

 

Edit

Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward. ~ Henry Ford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2016 by laislica

[Lamkyong]

8 hours ago, trogers said:

I wonder how many farang villas are built to resist even a six pointer...

or even 0.6

[cyberfarang]

We were living in Hang Dong back in 2006 when suddenly I heard a roaring sound in the distance. Then a vvvrrroom and the whole house violently vibrated. This only lasted for about 2 to 3 seconds and felt like a high speed train was passing underneath the house. It was an earth tremor and although no damage done and very quick, scary nonetheless.

 

We have a high roof built with steel gerders that are bolted onto the concrete pillar supports. The roof tiles are hooked onto the gerders. Our ceiling is just a thin aluminum frame held up by thin wire from the gerders that supports the asbestos ceiling tiles. I am sure many have houses built in the same way. 

 

My main fear if a major quake did occur is that the the roof would collapse in on us as those steel gerders and roof tiles combined probably weigh within the tons. Also I have read that during a quake the pressure can actually make windows explode with deadly pieces of glass shrapnel firing out at high speed everywhere. So if making buildings less destructible during earthquakes, there is much more to this than meets the eye.

[Grubster]

5 hours ago, John F Gill said:

I was living in Tokyo during the 3rd most powerful earthquake on this planet in recorded human history 9.0 magnitude plus all the 6 to 7.0 magnitude aftershocks for months on end and not a single building fell except for a parking garage in Machida.  So yeah he's right they most definitely do need "earthquake-resistant engineering".  All the lives were lost because of the tsunami in Sendai triggered by the earthquake not because of the earthquake itself.  The tsunami was the what caused all the structural damage and that was just in Sendai.  The earthquake itself hit the entire mainland of Japan and my TV didn't even fall over.  I expected to come home from work that night and find everything in my house destroyed but no everything was just fine, and that earthquake hit Tokyo where we were just as hard as Sendai.  The quake hit the entire mainland just as hard it lasted for almost FIVE WHOLE MINUTES!  Shaking like I've never felt before and I lived in Tokyo for years and felt a lot of earthquakes but nothing like that.  We'd get 6 pointers all the time like they were nothing but they'd usually only last 10 to 20 seconds not minutes.  Japan most definitely has the best earthquake-resistant engineering in the world.  If that 9.0 magnitude earthquake would have hit California there would have been massive deviation and structural damage.  If only the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant had not melted down the only real damage would have been from the tsunami.  

Would that be the same brilliant engineers that built the back up generators for the nuke plant on the beach in the country that gave tsunami its name?  The sole cause of the melt down was stupidity. How far offshore was that 9.0?  California earthquakes are under the land not the sea.

[trogers]

1 hour ago, cyberfarang said:

We were living in Hang Dong back in 2006 when suddenly I heard a roaring sound in the distance. Then a vvvrrroom and the whole house violently vibrated. This only lasted for about 2 to 3 seconds and felt like a high speed train was passing underneath the house. It was an earth tremor and although no damage done and very quick, scary nonetheless.

 

We have a high roof built with steel gerders that are bolted onto the concrete pillar supports. The roof tiles are hooked onto the gerders. Our ceiling is just a thin aluminum frame held up by thin wire from the gerders that supports the asbestos ceiling tiles. I am sure many have houses built in the same way. 

 

My main fear if a major quake did occur is that the the roof would collapse in on us as those steel gerders and roof tiles combined probably weigh within the tons. Also I have read that during a quake the pressure can actually make windows explode with deadly pieces of glass shrapnel firing out at high speed everywhere. So if making buildings less destructible during earthquakes, there is much more to this than meets the eye.

 

Advisable to place safety films on those glass windows...