In central Bangkok, Methinee Phoovatis sat in front of a small computer screen at Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), monitoring for signs of survivors amid the teeming metropolis. Surrounded by her team, they coordinated the efforts of numerous rescue workers moving along a path leading to a massive pile of debris. These teams worked around the clock, searching for any evidence of life under the mound of cement and steel towering over them.
It had been four days since a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Bangkok on March 28, and with passing hours, the hopes of Methinee and her colleagues of finding survivors dwindled. They kept pushing, driven by the slim chance of rescue. A whiteboard next to Methinee displayed the count of 73 still missing, trapped under the rubble of an unfinished 30-storey building destined to house Thailand’s National Audit Office.
Despite being over 1,200km away from the epicenter in Myanmar, where thousands had perished, the earthquake paralyzed Bangkok. Panicked residents flooded the streets, buildings swaying and shuddering, seeking safety. A month later, life returned to normal in the Thai capital, but the deaths, mostly from the collapsed audit office building, raised concerns about high-rise safety. Methinee, a plan and policy analyst, expressed her hopes for a miracle but admitted the chances were slimming with each day.
The earthquake’s shallow depth of just 10km intensified its impact, presenting a unique threat to Bangkok, due to its location on unstable soil. This situation prompted concerns about the city’s resilience, especially its readiness for seismic events. Officials launched an investigation to assess adherence to building protocols following the collapse of the unfinished building, the only one to succumb so catastrophically, while many others suffered structural damage. The event sparked discussions on earthquake-resistant building designs and the effectiveness of Thailand’s emergency alert systems, highlighting their inadequacies during the crisis. Despite this, Bangkok’s resilience shone through as life slowly returned to normal, reflecting the city’s ability to bounce back from adversity.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/27/will-bangkok-fall-out-of-love-with-skyscrapers-after-earthquake-rocks-city?traffic_source=rss
