Families flee homes as townhouses ‘crack’ and tilt
Families fled their homes into the street for safety on Monday night after subsidence caused the foundations to shift, cracking walls and leaving eight townhouses tilting at the Samut Prakan housing estate.
The owner of the project on Tuesday promised to repair the homes back to their previous condition.
Some 20 residents had to flee their homes at Saeng Tawan Housing Estate in Bang Sao Thong district as sudden subsidence around midnight on Monday left eight one-storey townhouses visibly tilting with cracks running through the walls.
Waritha Doundsungnoen, 50, who was among the affected residents, said her family’s sleep was disturbed by what sounded “like rats running around the ceiling”, followed by loud cracking and the whole house shaking.
“We ran outside and saw that our neighbours were doing the same,” she said.
Suwit Sothipreedawong, the housing estate project's board member, said the incident was caused when the footings of the houses were pushed out of place. This was due to subsidence a few days earlier, which was in the process of being repaired.
He said the project would take responsibility for reparing the eight homes to be “good as new” – which would take up to two months to complete.
The affected residents and their belongings were moved temporarily to newly-built two-storey townhouses on the same estate, until their homes were repaired.
Tambon Bang Sao Thong Administrative Organisation president Kasem Saelee said the houses had been sealed off for safety. He said the administrative organisation officials would check on the progress of the repairs periodically and prevent future problems.