7 days not enough — Interior Minister probes SAO collapse further

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anutin Charnvirakul gave a statement on Friday (April 4, 2025), following a meeting with the fact-finding committee regarding the collapse of the new State Audit Office building in the Chatuchak area.

He said the committee convened exactly one week after the incident, in line with the established timeframe, to begin investigating the cause.

However, due to ongoing rescue operations at the site, officials have not yet been able to fully collect material samples for testing. Therefore, it is still too early to conclusively determine the cause of the building collapse.

Preliminary findings have identified factors that will lead to further in-depth investigation, particularly from an engineering perspective, including a review of the building's design. This process will take time, as it involves creating a model to ensure accuracy, Anutin said.

Nevertheless, the committee has assured the public that Thailand's engineering standards, as legally required, include high thresholds for earthquake resistance and vibration. Current building designs in Thailand are considered adequately resistant to earthquakes.

Anutin addressed the timeframe for the academic and engineering investigation, emphasizing that the cause of the collapse must be examined in detail. 

He noted that typically, elevator shafts are located at the centre of a building, but in this case, the elevators were positioned at the back, which may have caused torsional forces affecting the structure. 

He said the inclusion of various safety factors must be thoroughly reviewed to determine whether they were sufficient. To be fair to the designers, no one should be blamed without first calculating the design of each floor to see if appropriate safety factors were applied, including resistance to torque, shear forces, and other loads. This process will take several months.

Asst Prof Thanet Veerasiri, President of the Council of Engineers and former President of the Engineering Institute of Thailand under Royal Patronage, stated that the committee has been working to gather as much on-site information as possible. However, due to the current situation, the full-scale investigation has not yet been feasible. 

He emphasized to those working at the site that the steel samples to be collected must come from within the concrete structure, not from deformed steel that has already been trampled or damaged. At this stage, rescue operations are still ongoing, so materials cannot yet be retrieved. 

Regarding compensation for victims, Anuthin stated that he had instructed the Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to explore ways to waive existing regulations. He noted that the current law provides only 29,000 baht in compensation for a death and 4,000 baht for an injury. 

Upon hearing these figures, he asked the Director-General to find a more appropriate method of compensation, as the current law may be outdated. He also discussed the matter with the Director-General of the Comptroller General’s Department and stressed that such low compensation is unacceptable. 

He cited past emergency aid cases, such as the flood in Chiang Rai, where households received up to 50,000 baht for property damage. Since this case involves loss of life, he promised to urgently find the best way to provide more substantial support.