Although the recent 7.9-magnitude quake that devastated Nepal stands little chance of taking place in Thailand, precautions still need to be taken, an academic has warned.
Panithan Lakkunaprasit, professor emeritus at Chulalongkorn University's engineering faculty, said studies from Thai geologists showed that the big faults in Chiang Rai and Kanchanaburi have the potential to cause earthquakes of between 7-7.5 magnitude.
All parties involved must take measures to prepare should one strike, said Mr Panithan, who is an adviser to the faculty's Centre of Excellence in Earthquake Engineering and Vibration.
He said a survey by a coordination centre set up to examine buildings damaged by the earthquake in Chiang Rai's Mae Lao district on May 5 last year showed that temples and government office buildings sustained more damage than private buildings.
Mr Panithan said several temples and school buildings there were not designed to withstand earthquakes despite their being built after the 1997 law governing earthquake-resistant structures came into force.
He believed several temples and state buildings elsewhere are not quake-resistant.
Mr Panithan stressed the need to set rigorous standards for manufacturing precast concrete construction products. Many of such products still lack proper quality control standards, he said.
He also drew attention to the need to reinforce old buildings to better cope with earthquake.
Earthquakes in Kobe of Japan, in China's Sichuan province and in Haiti revealed that old buildings without strong reinforcements to resist earthquakes were the major causes of many deaths and losses, Mr Panithan said.
He said about two million buildings in Bangkok are not designed as earthquake-resistant structures. It will be an immense task for the state and concerned parties to examine and assess the structural integrity of these buildings and to reinforce the strength of the structures to resist earthquakes, he said, adding that all relevant agencies should gradually set aside budgets for the task.
He said a well-planned logistics system is also required to handle the task, given that a lot of buildings are not quake-resistant.
Mr Panithan said priority should be given to repairing or improving key transport routes, infrastructure, airports, elevated routes, bridges, power plants, water mains, as well as hospitals and schools to ensure they are better able to withstand the jolts.
Assessing and improving the structural integrity of key government office buildings such as the Government House, the command centres of the police force and the military and provincial halls is also important, he said.