I'm in Bangkok, about 2km from where the construction building collapsed. Was in the 29th floor of a 2 year old 32 floor condo building during this. I was born and raised in Southern California so I'm no stranger to earthquakes but I've also never been in a high rise building during one. The force of the building swaying back and forth is something I will never forget, the room was moving back and forth several feet, it legit felt like the building was falling over.
In countries that experience frequent earthquakes, maybe, since regulations would be in place for this sort of thing. If I lived in Tokyo or something, sure, I'd trust that the building I'm in was built with earthquake resistance in mind.
In countries that rarely / never experience earthquakes? Terrifying. The building could have been built 20-30 years ago. Who knows what earthquake regulations (if any) existed back then for construction.
Worse - most of the highrises in Bangkok might not have toppled over, but who knows how structurally sound they are, now? My heart goes out to Thai condo owners. Next couple of years are going to be rough.
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u/prunford 8d ago
I'm in Bangkok, about 2km from where the construction building collapsed. Was in the 29th floor of a 2 year old 32 floor condo building during this. I was born and raised in Southern California so I'm no stranger to earthquakes but I've also never been in a high rise building during one. The force of the building swaying back and forth is something I will never forget, the room was moving back and forth several feet, it legit felt like the building was falling over.