Chiang Mai earthquake

[Guest wowpow]

At least 23 after-shocks hit Chiang Mai - The Nation

 

A quake, with a magnitude of 5.1, hit Chiang Mai province shortly after midnight on Wednesday, damaging college buildings and sending residents fleeing from their homes.

 

Rescue teams rushed to check a nearby dam and found no damage as earlier fear.

 

The quake has centre in in Mae Rim district, just outside the city of Chiang Mai, about two minutes after midnight, the national meteorological centre said in a statement.

 

The quake damaged at least five dormitory buildings at Maejo agriculture University, in Mae Rim, and sent panicked students and faculty into the streets.

 

More than 2,000 students were temporarily evacuated from their dorms. Series of after shock hit the areas in the morning.

 

Meanwhile rescue teams were sent to Mae Kuang Udom Thara Dam in the province's Doi Saket district in the morning out of fear that the quake will cause cracks.

 

However Prachon Pratchayasakul, a rescue team chief said that initial investigation found that the quake did not cause cracks or damages at the dam.

 

Officials from Natural Resource department will conduct detail check at the dam in the afternoon.

 

The quake however caused cracks at the first and fifth floors of the male dormitory of the Maejo University in Sansai district. The cracks could easily be seen.

 

A University source said engineers were sent to examine whether the quake had direct impacts on the buildings' structures or not.

 

The Nation

[Guest Aunty]

5.1!??? That's not much. Disconcerting to experience for sure, but not very big. The really scary thing about this story is that University buildings

[Guest wowpow]

Moderate 5.0-5.9 Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings. 800 per year Strong 6.0-6.9 Can be destructive in areas up to about 100 miles across in populated areas. 120 per year Major 7.0-7.9 Can cause serious damage over larger areas. 18 per year Great 8.0-8.9 Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across. 1 per year Rarely, great 9.0 or greater Devastating in areas several thousand miles across. 1 per 20 years

[bkkguy]

what does it say about the quality of Thai buildings in general, and Pattaya apartments in particular!?

 

not a lot because the quake was in Chiang Mai and only affected buildings at one small university!

 

meanwhile in Bangkok we are still on high alert for tsunamis sweeping down the Chao Phraya.

 

bkkguy

 

 

[Bob]

My CM friend was home watching TV and indicated he felt the shaking and thought there was a problem with his building (until he saw the TV announcement about the earthquake). But there was no damage around his building that he could see.

[Guest Aunty]

not a lot because the quake was in Chiang Mai and only affected buildings at one small university!

 

meanwhile in Bangkok we are still on high alert for tsunamis sweeping down the Chao Phraya.

 

bkkguy

 

On the contrary I think it says rather a lot. Pattaya was, the last time I looked, part of Thailand, so presumably it has the same building code and practices that the rest of Thailand, including Chaing Mai has? If the standards are evidently so poor that crap public buildings can be built on a University campus (and dormitories too for god's sake) that crack after a 5.1 earthquake, I would have no confidence about any building built anywhere in Thailand.

 

By the way, the Richter scale is not linear. What would have happened if that earthquake was 5.5 or 6? The buildings falling down crushing all the students inside??

 

[Gaybutton]

What would have happened if that earthquake was 5.5 or 6? The buildings falling down crushing all the students inside??

 

It would have made newspaper headlines for a few days, given some politicians an opportunity to make some grandstand promises, would have eventually fizzled out, and nothing whatever would have actually been done. Sort of like the way things are often done in the USA . . .