April 3, 2025: “Hang in there” is what everyone is saying, or wishing, or praying. It was after what sounded like a woman’s voice was heard from inside of the massive Chatuchak building wreckage.
Hope is hope, whether it is big or small, and no matter how many hours it has been since the building collapsed to its own footprint. The heavy machinery temporarily stopped humming, as everyone agreed that it was safer to work toward the source of the reported voice by hand. Everyone has been buoyed. More oxygen was rushed to the wreckage.
“Sister, please hang in there. Help is on the way,” a woman shouted into the debris. The voice, and then apparent knocks, reportedly came from at least three metres below. Between it and the rescuers are tons of concretes _ big slabs or ones broken into smaller pieces.
Reporters, like all Thais, are holding their breaths. “You may be hearing nothing because the heavy machines have temporarily stopped working,” one journalist at the scene said on a live broadcast. “But I can guarantee you. Everyone is working as fast as he or she possibly can.”
Earthquake and Entertainment Complex backlashes can converge
April 2: 2025: If the Paetongtarn government is seen as trying to steamroll the Entertainment Complex project at a time of great national sorrow, it could trigger a political uprising, analysts and activists have warned.
Sadness can turn into dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction can turn into widespread political anger that can only be vented on the Pheu Thai-led administration, it is warned.
The hardline conservatives who are always opposed to the Entertainment Complex idea, particularly one that would include a casino or legalized gambling, have asked prospective protesters to “get your shoes ready” because there could be a prolonged demonstration upcoming that might involve a lot of walking.
The opposition People’s Party, meanwhile, has shown it was against the Entertainment Complex plan, speaking out against the scheme during the recent censure debate. Although the conservatives and the People’s Party have always been like oil and water that should never blend, hasty progress of the controversial concept could do the unthinkable of temporarily uniting the two forces, it is said.
The possible mixing can be explosive for the Paetongtarn administration.
And the two camps can get strong support from the neutrals, who may feel that, with the current state of national grieving and various emergency issues to be looked at, like the plunging prices of condominium units, prioritising the Entertainment Complex is bad. In Parliament or anywhere else.
Simply put, the government cannot be seen as clearing the road for a quick implementation of the controversial project. If the administration does not want to be in the middle of a political upheaval, that is.
PM "wants swift probe" into building collapse
April 1, 2025: Construction or bidding questions related to the State Audit Office building which crumbled last Friday during a major earthquake centred in Myanmar will be at the heart of a government investigation, which the prime minister reportedly wants to be quick.
Reports quoting the government’s spokesman said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra wanted the investigation to be wrapped up within one week. That is an unheard-of deadline when Thai probes into alleged government irregularities are concerned.
The spokesman, Jirayu Huangsap, quoted her as saying that Thailand “will find it hard to live” if no causes were established.
This seems consistent with an another report quoting Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong, who said the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) would play a leading role in the bidding investigation.
The promise of a swift probe has come amid what looks like a revamp of government attitude toward earthquake-related policies, which understandably might not have been intense previously. According to Jirayu, there would be intensified long-term, short-term and emergency measures including what children need to learn and how serious they need to learn it.
Daily updates of local and global events by Tulsathit Taptim
Daily updates of local and global events by Tulsathit Taptim
