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Agence France-Presse

Shaken hours earlier by a massive earthquake, Phatsakon Kaewkla’s terror was magnified when he came home to find gaping cracks in the walls of his 22nd-floor Bangkok flat.
Feeling unsafe in the building damaged by the biggest tremors to hit the capital in generations, the 23-year-old Thai decided to stay away for two days until experts gave the high-rise the all-clear.
The sales coordinator is now one of many Bangkok residents wondering if they should seek safer housing in a city where hundreds of residential buildings were damaged by the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck neighbouring Myanmar on March 28.
The owners of Phatsakon’s condominium assured him that engineers had checked every part of the building and concluded it was habitable.
I feel a little bit scared. And also my mum told me to move out from here
Phatsakon Kaewkla, Bangkok high-rise resident
But he is still spooked about the cracks.
“I feel a little bit scared. And also my mum told me to move out from here,” he said.
More than 1,000km (620 miles) away from the epicentre, the Thai capital – its skyline dotted with hundreds of towers and glinting high-rises – virtually never experiences such tremors.
Bangkok-based real estate consultant Owen Zhu, 40, said that the impact on his sector had been “significant”.
“People seem to have realised that living in high-rise buildings might carry greater risks when it comes to earthquake resistance compared to two-story or low-rise structures,” the Chinese property expert said.

The earthquake prompted a flurry of inquiries from residents who looked to relocate in the past week, he said, due to widespread “fear and anxiety” of living far above ground.
Yigit Buyukergun from Turkey was at home in Bangkok with his wife when the quake struck. After it subsided, they emerged from under a table to inspect the damage on their 22nd-floor flat.
“Everywhere is cracked, especially in the corridor. You can see all the roof is really bad condition,” the 25-year-old said.
Despite Buyukergun’s safety concerns, the owners of the block seemed unfazed.
They say it is “100 per cent safe, but I don’t believe it,” he said.
Numerous studio flats in Bangkok’s sprawling residential projects are rented out on annual leases, requiring a two-month deposit.
Most condos do not permit short-term rentals for security reasons, and only hotels may lease for under 30 days.

Zhu says tenants and property owners often disagree over the habitability of quake-damaged flats, with disputes becoming more common.
There is “a gap in perception and judgment between the two parties,” he said.
“The landlord sees the unit as safe, while the tenant feels it’s unsafe and insists on moving out and getting their deposit back”.
Earthquake safety standards for buildings in Thailand were “not particularly strict” before the disaster and not something property-seeking clients specifically asked about, Zhu said.
Heightening anxiety since the quake was the shocking total collapse of a 30-storey construction in Bangkok that trapped dozens of workers, most of whom remain unaccounted for over a week later.
City authorities are now investigating whether substandard building materials had been used in its construction.
Zhu says more of his clients are now opting for low-rises.
For house-hunters who were still considering high-rises, they often required that the property sustained “minimal or no damage during the recent earthquake, or at least was not severely affected.”


He believed property prices would grow in the long-term as demand for safer buildings drives the adoption of costly seismic resistance measures, adding that “the bar for Thailand’s real estate sector has been raised”.
But for Buyukergun, talk of improving building regulations is not enough to calm his fears about the uncontrollable factors of geology.
While the prevalence of earthquakes in his home country of Turkey made him feel uneasy, he had not expected to feel the same way about Thailand.
“Thailand is safe,” he recalled thinking before.
“That’s why I couldn’t believe [the] earthquake [happened].”


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Thailand

Bangkok residents rethink high-rise living after Myanmar quake: ‘I feel scared’

Workers repair damage on the exterior of a high-rise building in Bangkok following the March 28 earthquake that struck central Myanmar and Thailand. Photo: AFP

A damaged corridor inside a high-rise residential condominium in Bangkok, after the March 28 earthquake that struck central Myanmar and Thailand. Photo: AFP

Rescuers search for survivors in a building collapse on March 28 after an earthquake. A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, with tremors felt in neighbouring Thailand. Photo: dpa

Bangkok tower collapse: Chinese contractors under scrutiny amid ‘tofu building’ claims

Rescuers conduct a search for survivors on Friday at the site of the collapsed State Audit Office tower building in Bangkok. Photo: EPA-EFE

A composite picture of satellite images shows the under-construction tower in Bangkok on December 25 (left) and after it had collapsed on Friday. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visits the site of the collapsed building in Bangkok on Monday. Photo: Reuters

‘Earthquake drunk’ Thais given advice on how to deal with post-quake dizziness

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (right) visits relatives of a missing worker at the site of a building that collapsed following an earthquake in Bangkok on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A rescuer is given a Thai massage at the site of an under-construction building collapse in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Tourists visit the Wat Pho temple in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 19. Photo: EPA-EFE

In Myanmar, a heartless junta deepens earthquake despair with ‘collective punishment’

People in Sagaing, the epicentre of the March 28 earthquake,  reach out for food aid being distributed on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing (centre) visits a hospital in Naypyidaw on March 28 following the earthquake. Photo: AFP

A man stands near a burning house at the site of a suspected air strike carried out by Myanmar’s military in Rakhine state in January. Photo: Arakan Army/AFP

Damaged buildings in Mandalay, Myanmar, after the March 28 earthquake. Photo: Ye Myo

People sleep on the street in Mandalay on Friday. The UN says more than 9 million people were affected by the earthquake. Photo: AFP 

Donated medical supplies bound for Myanmar are loaded onto a plane at an airport in southwest China’s Yunnan province on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing shakes hands with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (right) at the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on Thursday. Photo: Thai Foreign Affairs Minister/EPA-EFE

People in Sagaing, Myanmar, queue to receive food aid on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Members of a Chinese rescue team treat an injured man in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Thai man arrested after faking story about pregnant wife buried in quake rubble

Somnit Duangnet claimed his pregnant wife was under the rubble of the Myanmar quake. Photo: Facebook/Big Kren

Rescue work going on at the site of the collapsed State Audit Office building in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday following Friday’s earthquake. Photo: Reuters

Somnit Duangnet’s hoax was soon exposed in social media. Photo: Facebook/Big Kren

Over 150 dead across Myanmar, Thailand as earthquake traps scores under rubble

Rescue personnel near a building in Bangkok that collapsed after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday. Photo: Reuters

A worker reacts near a site of a collapsed building after the tremors of an earthquake that struck central Myanmar on Friday affected Bangkok. Photo: Reuters

People drive on a motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on Friday after an earthquake in central Myanmar. Photo: AFP

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

One property manager said the quake prompted a flurry of inquiries from residents looking to relocate, due to ‘fear and anxiety’ of living far above ground


One property manager said the quake prompted a flurry of inquiries from residents looking to relocate, due to ‘fear and anxiety’ of living far above ground.


Earthquakes

Natural disasters

Myanmar

Bangkok residents rethink high-rise living after Myanmar quake: ‘I feel scared’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}One property manager said the quake prompted a flurry of inquiries from residents looking to relocate, due to ‘fear and anxiety’ of living far above ground

One property manager said the quake prompted a flurry of inquiries from residents looking to relocate, due to ‘fear and anxiety’ of living far above ground