The Nation: Condos 'safe from big quakes'

[NewsBot]

Property developers have assured owners and prospective buyers of units in high-rise condominiums that the buildings are perfectly safe and can deal with strong earthquakes.

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[LivinLOS]

Sure.. Sure they are !!

[K2]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Sure.. Sure they are !!

They built the temples better than any condo tower and seen the rubble of the huge stupa in Chaing Mai (leveled by a huge earthquake) and Mrs was telling me about another famous stupa collapsing after the last earthqauke. I'd not like to be on anything higher than 2nd floor in a serious earthqauke .

[LivinLOS]

Its like Patong tower.. In 97 when the last crash hit.. That was left as a shell.. Then building inspectors came and condemned the structure.. There is sits as an open shell for nearly a decade, of course exposed internal steel and other things that lead to concrete cancer..

But amazingly, during another boom, a different building inspector passes it with flying colours (hey its farangs buying it, who cares) and it gets finished and sold..

Theres a block near me, its multi story and on a steep hill. A farang was interested in it and got a proper western style surveyor to come and look.. He didnt even charge him for the full work as in half an hour just told him RUN..

My buddy lived in a 3 story set of townhouses, they were only 6 or 8 years old.. They were sliding down the hill and in serious danger.. They knocked em down, rebuilt them exactly the same, except they cut even more of the foundation down to build another block meters in front..

With the kind of rainfall that this place gets, the deforestation and lack of 'binding' to the hillsides its a matter of time.. Thats without earthquakes.

[Mr Lucky]

The building code in earthquake-prone Japan says that if you build more than five storeys, the building must have springs and counterweights. These are very expensive, of course. Anyone who's been to Tokyo can tell you it's a sea of five-storey buildings, with a very few skyscrapers here and there. Do you think any Bangkok building has a quake-dampening system?

From the Bangkok Post (Jan 27, 2005):

Engineers warn Stronger buildings needed

TUL PINKAEW
The Council of Engineers says it is willing to work with the Public Works Department to design buildings capable of withstanding earthquakes of up to 6.0 on the Richter scale.

Executive member Krai Tungsanga suggested homes, hotels and high-rise offices in the six tsunami-hit provinces be rebuilt to comply with earthquake zone regulations and codes of practice.

The Dec 26 tsunami was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake near Sumatra.

Buildings in greater Bangkok, said Mr Krai, should also be designed with earthquake risks in mind, as the city sits on a large bed of marine clay, which can magnify the effect of earth tremors.

The agency has sent a report to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra about how to safeguard buildings against earthquakes.

A map of earthquake-prone areas was needed, it said. City plans should be revamped, and building codes changed.

''It should take around three months before the Public Works and Town and Country Planning Department is ready to reveal what to do next, and we will help in any way we can,'' said Mr Krai.

The building codes concerning quake-risk zones apply only to buildings in nine northern provinces and Kanchanaburi.

All new structures should be able to withstand medium-strength earthquakes, or those measuring up to 5-6 on the Richter scale, since those provinces are in at-risk spots, he said.

Mr Krai also called for local planning officers to enforce laws banning the construction of any permanent building within 400 metres of beaches.

''Public land must also be kept public, which means we should not allow vendors to set up shop on land that might be needed to evacuate people.''

Tossaporn Sree-Iam, a committee member, said the council had devised a low-cost method of reinforcing buildings to withstand earthquakes.

''In many buildings today, the first floor is open, but upper floors have multiple walls and frames. If an earthquake hits, most damage occurs in the weak first storey and this destabilises the rest of the building,'' he says