A Japanese construction specialist has issued a warning about the ability of Bangkok’s schools to resist earthquakes.
The Bangkok Post reports that Hideki Kit Miyamoto, president and CEO of engineering consultancy group Miyamoto International, said that schools in Bangkok bore a design similar to schools that had failed to withstand powerful quakes in other countries.
Miyamoto mentioned that the high-rise buildings dotting Bangkok’s skyline, in combination with the region’s naturally soft soil, left the city vulnerable to seismic activity.
The fault line nearest Bangkok is located in Kanchanaburi. Miyamoto speculated that a magnitude seven earthquake in that locale would cause widespread damage to buildings within Bangkok.
