Geological faults in the West and North could rock Bangkok, quake expert warns
An earthquake-engineering expert yesterday warned that people in Bangkok should keep an eye on a geological fault in the country's west that could affect the capital.
Prof Panitan Lukkunaprasit, from Chulalongkorn University (CU)’s Centre of Excellence in Earthquake Engineering and Vibration, said the fault is near the western province of Kanchanaburi and links to Myanmar’s Sagaing Fault. He said officials should be aware of the faults as they could cause big earthquakes.
Moreover, if quakes occurred in the North, he said they could also shake Bangkok. Other faults in the South, including the Ranong and Khlong Marui faults were least likely to affect the capital compared to those in the West and North.
“Now people are frightened and worried about earthquakes, especially in Phuket, after the media have had a lot of news reports on tremors following an earthquake and many aftershocks that occurred this month. Sometimes, the information they have reported was academically inexact or incorrect, or rumours, which affected the country’s economy negatively,” Panitan said.
So, his centre, in collaboration with CU’s Research Unit for Earthquake and Tectonics Geology of Mainland Southeast Asia, will host a roundtable discussion on the topic “Earthquake; Rumours or Truths” to educate the media on correct information so they can disseminate what is correct to the public. Earthquake academics would propose appropriate moves to deal with a quake disaster.
The discussion will be held tomorrow from 9am to noon at CU’s Faculty of Science.
Despite rumours that Phuket would submerge yesterday as a result of a recent earthquake, all the flights to the island province were fully booked.
Authorities in the province also hosted a “Believe in Phuket” event to deny rumours that the island was sinking. Phuket Governor Tri Akaradecha affirmed public safety.
At the event, the governor and executives from other local administrative organisations planted a national flag and other flags of their organisations on soil where a 4.3 magnitude quake occurred in Thalang district on April 16.
Phuket Airport director Pratuang Sornkham insisted that the rumour had not affected passengers’ confidence. He expected the number of passengers travelling to the province would increase, as there were more passengers in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
Mineral Resources Department chief Nitat Poovatanakul insisted that Phuket would not sink. And Tri said it would take a massive quake, of 20 magnitude for this to happen, which was almost wholly unlikely.
Meanwhile, Premier Yingluck Shinawatra said in her weekly TV programme that the government had plans to prevent any further flood disasters.
Yingluck said Thailand had requested China’s assistance on water management. She said China would send water management experts to give advice and work with the Commission of Water and Flood Management before the rainy season.
She said while Thailand was setting up a single command system to deal with floods, China had already implemented such a system. It had combined water and flood management systems under the Ministry of Water Resources. The country had laws that support the implementation of a combined system. It had a “war room” that could connect with every province.
“We’re considering following this measure,” she noted.
Meanwhile, the Pollution Control Department yesterday revoked the announcement of a dangerous zone after a fire that has been raging in Phitsanulok’s Nakhon Thai district for days was now under control. Department officials said it had not found any poisonous gases in the area.
Officers from the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Centre in the province pumped water from the Kwai Noi River – about 500 metres from the spot – and sprayed water to subdue the blaze.
