Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has given the agencies concerned 90 days to provide a definite answer as to how the State Audit Office (SAO) building collapsed while under construction, after a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar on March 28th.
The former SAO building, located in Chatuchak district of Bangkok, is the only one under construction in Thailand that collapsed. The death toll to date is 21 and more than 70 people are still listed as missing.
The prime minister was briefed today, regarding the investigation into the collapse, by Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovations Supamas Isarabhakdi and Pongnara Yenying, director-general of the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning.
After the meeting, the prime minister told a news conference that the government wants to assure the public that the existing laws on construction are being strictly enforced, to ensure that all existing buildings and those pending construction are safe and will not collapse if Thailand is struck by tremors of similar magnitude in the future.
As such, she said that it is essential that the cause of the collapse of the SAO building is ascertained.
She said the meeting agreed to designate the faculties of engineering of four universities and the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning to make separate models of the SAO building, to simulate the tremors from the earthquake, in order to understand the cause of the building’s collapse.
She also said that the investigators should review the screening process of the building project, to make sure that it was done properly.
“This is a big issue with widespread repercussions,” said the prime minister, as she emphasised that the investigation must cover all parties concerned, from the building’s architect and the contractor to the building inspectors and suppliers of the construction materials.
