Will Bangkok love the skyscrapers after the Rox City earthquake? | Seismic news

Bangkok, Thailand – In the dirty capital, which is the center of Bangkok, Metnini Vovati watched a small computer screen, hoping to find signs of survivors.

About Methin, other members of the Disaster Protection and Disaster Reducing in Thailand (DDPM) coordinated dozens of rescue workers wandering along a path that led to a hill of wreckage.

Rescue teams worked in seizures, and searching for any indicators of life under the cement hill and steel that waves on them.

“We only hope for a miracle that some people are still alive.”

It was four days after a Size 7.7 earthquake shook Bangkok On March 28, with hours and days, Methin’s chances and colleagues were increasingly small.

“We are doing our best to people. We hope they are alive,” she said, standing next to a white plate showing the outcome of 73 people who are still missing under the rubble of the 30 -storey building, which was designed to house the National Review Office in Thailand.

The earthquake that shook the Thai capital was particularly shallow, just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), which increased shock waves on the surface of the earth.

Although it is more than 1,200 km (750 miles) from the earthquake center Myanmar where thousands diedBring the earthquake to Bangkok to a dead end. The residents of this city, which includes more than 11 million people, rushed to the streets in search of safety, as the buildings were affected and trembling.

A month later, life in the Thai capital has returned to normal.

But dozens of deaths-most of which were at the site of the collapsed audit office-and the shock of the events of March 28 have pushed concerns some in Bangkok about the integrity of the tall life in the twelfth longest city in the world.

“People were screaming”

A sudden feeling of nausea and swinging lamps inside his apartment on the ninth floor of a 41 -storey building told Harry Yang that he was in danger.

“I escaped on my balcony and everything was shaking,” said 29 -year -old, who described Bangkok at his home from birth.

“People were screaming,” he said.

Yang, who was roaming in the escape from the fire, was immediately thinking about his elderly father who lived on the 32nd floor in another tall building in Bangkok and who suffers from problems with movement.

Although his father, who works as an archaeological agent, made him out of ordeal safely, the earthquake destroyed many masterpieces and left him terrified.

“My father was 68 years old, had leg problems, and he needed to climb” to reach the ground floor.

People had a good reason to fear. Videos on social media showed Bangkok, where debris falls on the ground and water flowing into the torrents of infinite swimming pools.

Lapaphutch LERTSACANANT was in its twenty -seventh floor when the earthquake was hit.

“The building was literally moving side by side. I really felt at that moment that the building could be cut in half,” said Lawavot.

“I really thought that I wouldn’t be alive,” she added, memorizing her desire to speak to her partner again on the phone. “I thought I could get my last words with him. I will have with me in my last moments alive.”

Although seismic events in the wider Southeast Asia region are common, the size of the earthquake that struck Myanmar – killing more than 3,700 people – shake Bangkok surprised a lot.

Wang Yu, associate professor in the Department of Geographic Sciences at Taiwan National University, said that Myanmar is directly on the Tktuni rift line, the rift of the epic, and the March 28 earthquake occurred after a mistake in slipping between India and Eurasian paintings.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the strike of the strike indicates a tectonic error as two horizontal plates move in each other. Since 1900, USGs reported that six other large seasons of 7.0 or more have occurred 250 km (155 miles) from the Mile Center in Myanmar from the March 28 earthquake.

Wang Yu explained that Bangkok is based on a basin of unstable soil that can increase the effect of these earthquakes.

He said: “When a seismic wave is transferred from the outside to the sink, the seismic wave capacity will be expanded.”

But the exact reason that made the building in the center of Bangkok collapsed is still under investigation. No other building in Bangkok has suffered from this catastrophic failure, although many sustainable structural damage. Thailand officials launched an evaluation of whether the appropriate building protocols have been followed.

An earthquake resistant “

Thailand first presented seismic regulations on buildings in 1997. In 2007, new legislation identified that buildings exceeding 15 meters (49 feet) in high -risk areas such as Bangkok must be built to withstand earthquakes of up to 7.0. Two years later, in 2009, the Thai Public Works and Planning of the town and the country presented a “comprehensive criterion for an earthquake -resistant design for buildings.”

Looking at these constructive and engineering regulations, questions were raised about how the building was almost built in Bangkok.

“I think we need to find the root cause, at least we can learn some lessons and improve construction regulations,” said the ruler of Bangkok Chadshart Stepont after a short period of the earthquake, as local authorities started via Thailand to test buildings and evaluate whether they are still structurally sound.

To date, the majority has been considered to meet safety standards.

On April 3, just six days after the earthquake, the urban authority in Bangkok announced the termination of “disaster mode” in Bangkok, with the exception of the construction collapse site.

Now a month after the disaster, some residents are still interested because the superficial cracks and other damage to their high dwellings contributed to the feelings of insecurity.

Although the engineers announced that his apartment was safe to live in, the 32 -year -old VARUTH PONGSAPIPATT found that a series of cracks walking on the walls of his apartment is somewhat worrying, but he was dealing with it.

“It is very frightening, but it has no effect on the building’s structure, so it’s okay,” he told the meeting.

As the elevator came out in her commission buildings after the earthquake, Lapavuch said she was forced to move to her parents’ house for about three weeks, and she was not in a hurry to return to her place on the twenty -seventh floor.

She said, “I do not feel that I believe in returning to live in a long building.”

Harry Yang said that his father refused to return to his 32 -storey home, worried about the occurrence of wireless tremors.

“My father is really worried. My father has been staying in a hotel since the earthquake occurred,” Yang told Al -Jazeera earlier this month.

Slow response

Research conducted by the Department of the National Development Institute in Thailand (NIDA) after the earthquake found that about 68 percent of the respondents were concerned about the stability and safety of buildings.

For some, the impact on the real estate market was also a concern.

“I am more worried about real estate prices,” Yang said.

“I think this will have a major impact on the real estate market and consumer confidence. Many people are trying to find a way out,” he said.

After the earthquake, Thai financial analysts expected that sales of housing units could be exposed to potential thinking twice before purchasing a tall building in Bangkok, which increases pressure on the real estate sector in the country.

“The March 28 earthquake is expected to create a low -height homes, which are seen as less likely to seismic events. This trend will reflect the shift in 2011 when the flood of housing buyers worldwide has led to the preference of the apartment over low -height houses,” the Bangkok Post reported earlier this month.

The earthquake also revealed serious deficiencies in the emergency alert system in Thailand.

Although the earthquake warning system was supposed to maintain the Thai public update with information, warning messages can only be sent in batches of 200,000 at one time, creating the bottleneck that slows down contacts in a country of about 72 million.

Harry Yang said that he or his parents received no messages in response to emergency situations. They were forced to search online for information after hitting the earthquake.

After weeks of the earthquake, Lapavuch, resident in Bangkok, said she had not received any emergency information.

She said, “We really need this type of system that can alert us.” “Every person in Thailand should review these types of notifications to make us well.”

The NIDA survey showed that nearly 60 percent of those surveyed were concerned about the effectiveness of early warning systems. Thai Prime Minister Paitongtarn Shinawatra has since called for promotions to the system to increase the ability to broadcast alerts to a million at one time, according to local reports.

Despite the challenges, Thailand came out of the tremor relatively easy.

A few meters away from the location of the 30 -storey building, the Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend market has already flourished with tourists a few days after the earthquake, and the events seem to look like a remote memory in a city that never sleeps.

Harry was agreed.

He said that Bangkok residents were at the beginning, but that would pass.

“In the end, you will return to normal.”