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Gulf Today
01-04-2025
- General
- Gulf Today
Woman pulled alive from quake rubble after 60 hours in Myanmar
Rescuers freed a woman from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar, officials said on Monday, a glimmer of hope three days after a massive earthquake that killed around 2,000 as searchers in Myanmar and Thailand raced against time to find more survivors. The woman was pulled from the rubble after 60 hours trapped under the collapsed Great Wall Hotel in the city of Mandalay after a 5-hour operation by Chinese, Russian and local teams, according to a Chinese embassy Facebook post. It said she was in stable condition early on Monday. Mandalay is near the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday that wreaked mass devastation in Myanmar and damage in neighbouring Thailand. In Bangkok, Thailand's capital, emergency crews using cranes and dog sniffers on Monday continued a desperate search for 76 people believed buried under the rubble of an under-construction skyscraper that collapsed. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said rescuers are not giving up despite the conventional-wisdom window for finding people alive fast approaching. "The search will continue even after 72 hours because in Turkey, people who have been trapped for a week have survived. The search has not been cancelled," Chadchart said. He said machine scans of the rubble indicated there may still be people alive underneath, and dog sniffers are being dispatched to try to pinpoint their locations. "We've detected weak life signs and there are many spots," he said. Thailand's official death toll was at 18 on Sunday, but could shoot up without more rescues at the collapsed building site. In Myanmar, state media said at least 1,700 people have been confirmed dead. The Wall Street Journal, citing the ruling military junta, reported the death toll had reached 2,028 in Myanmar. Reuters could not immediately confirm the new death toll. The United Nations said it was rushing relief supplies to estimated 23,000 quake-hit survivors in central Myanmar. "Our teams in Mandalay are joining efforts to scale up the humanitarian response despite going through the trauma themselves," said Noriko Takagi, the U.N. refugee agency's representative in Myanmar. "Time is of the essence as Myanmar needs global solidarity and support through this immense devastation." India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar's neighbours that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel from Malaysia, Singapore and Russia. The United States pledged $2 million in aid "through Myanmar-based humanitarian assistance organizations". It said in a statement that an emergency response team from USAID, which is undergoing massive cuts under the Trump administration, is deploying to Myanmar. The quake devastation has piled more misery on Myanmar, already in chaos from a civil war that grew out of a nationwide uprising after a 2021 military coup ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. One rebel group said Myanmar's ruling military was still conducting airstrikes on villages in the aftermath of the quake, and Singapore's foreign minister called for an immediate ceasefire to help relief efforts. Critical infrastructure - including bridges, highways, airports and railways - across the country of 55 million lie damaged, slowing humanitarian efforts while the conflict that has battered the economy, displaced over 3.5 million people and debilitated the health system rages on. Reuters
Globe and Mail
01-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Bangkok reviews construction safety after a high-rise was crumpled by an earthquake 800 miles away
BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities said Monday they are investigating why a single office tower block under construction in Bangkok collapsed during Friday's earthquake that otherwise caused limited damage in the capital. Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt visited the site as heavy equipment pulled away rubble from the 30-story State Audit Office building in hopes of finding the 78 people still missing. "Even one life saved is worth all the effort, so I think we have to move on, carry on,' he said. But in the longer run it's important to ensure building safety in the city, where millions of people live and work in thousands of high-rise buildings. The magnitude 7.7 quake, which was centered more than 800 miles (1,200 kilometers) away, killed more than 2,000 people in Myanmar and at least 18 in Thailand, most at the Bangkok construction site near the popular Chatuchak Market. 'I think we need to find the root cause so at least we can learn some lessons and improve building regulations," Chadchart said. 'In the end, we will have some results that will improve safety in Bangkok.' Shares in the property developer handling the project, Italian Thai Development, fell 27% in trading Monday as questions were raised about the building's design, enforcement of construction safety codes, and the state-run Chinese contractor building the State Audit Office. The construction company, a subsidiary of state-run China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group, last year posted a video online celebrating the 137-meter-tall (about 450 foot) structure's topping out, showing plenty of drone footage and boasting about the quality of the design, construction and management of the project. Questions over safety and quality Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, whose family owns one of Thailand's largest construction conglomerates, told reporters he has ordered an investigation committee to be set up and to report the results back to him within seven days. He pointed to three possible factors behind the collapse: the designer, the inspectors or the builders. 'We will definitely find the true reasons as to why this building has collapsed, because it's all scientific,' Anutin said. While not on a geologic fault, Bangkok is built on relatively unstable alluvial soil, on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. That can amplify ground motion for tall buildings. The city has long been sinking under the weight of its skyscrapers, leading authorities to restrict the use of groundwater to help reduce subsidence. Friday's earthquake gave the Thai capital an unusually long and strong jolt, causing water from rooftop pools to cascade down skyscrapers, light-rail trains to rock on their tracks, and millions of people to flee homes and offices. People waited for hours outside in the blazing midday heat for buildings to undergo safety checks. A warning of aftershocks Monday caused a brief panic, with some people again heading to the streets. Questions about enforcement of safety and quality standards in Bangkok were raised earlier by the collapse of parts of a highway under construction in the city's outskirts that killed several construction workers. One potential concern was the quality of the steel rods embedded in concrete slabs and pillars to reinforce them. Most other damage in the city appeared to be superficial, such as fallen ceiling panels and fittings and cracked plaster, and mainly in relatively newer buildings put up by private developers. Revised construction standards Chadchart said building owners need to inspect their properties to determine whether any cracks were old or new. The Thailand Structural Engineers Association was recruiting volunteers to help with inspections. Recently, it urged a review of all large-scale projects in the city. Most buildings in Bangkok were built before the government revised construction standards to require meet earthquake safety requirements, said Christian Malaga-Chuquitaype, a lecturer in civil and environmental engineering at the Imperial College in London. Many structures are constructed without beams using 'flat slabs' and slender columns, which maximizes open floor space and minimizes costs, he noted. The company building the State Audit Office boasted in its video that it used a beamless design. 'While this design has cost and architectural advantages, it performs poorly during earthquakes, often failing in a brittle and sudden (almost explosive) manner,' he wrote in an analysis. "A thorough forensic analysis is needed, but this building type is no longer recommended in earthquake-prone areas.' ___
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Myanmar earthquake: death toll rises to almost 700 as search for survivors continues
The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar has reached almost 700, as rescuers dig through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors. The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The quake destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across swathes of Myanmar, with severe damage reported in the second biggest city, Mandalay. At least 694 people were killed and nearly 1,700 injured in Myanmar's Mandalay region – believed to be the worst affected – the ruling junta said in a statement. About 10 more deaths have been confirmed in Bangkok, the Thai capital, where a high rise building under construction collapsed. But with communications badly disrupted, the true scale of the disaster has yet to emerge from the isolated military-ruled state, and the toll is expected to rise significantly. It was the biggest quake to hit Myanmar in over a century, according to US geologists, and the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away from the epicentre. Rescuers in the Thai capital laboured through the night searching for workers trapped when a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed, reduced in seconds to a pile of rubble and twisted metal by the force of the shaking. Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt told AFP that about 10 people had been confirmed killed across the city, most in the skyscraper collapse. But up to 100 workers were still unaccounted for at the building, close to the Chatuchak weekend market that is a magnet for tourists. 'We are doing our best with the resources we have because every life matters,' Chadchart told reporters at the scene. 'Our priority is acting as quickly as possible to save them all.' Bangkok city authorities said they will deploy more than 100 engineers to inspect buildings for safety after receiving over 2,000 reports of damage. Up to 400 people were forced to spend the night in the open air in city parks as their homes were not safe to return to, Chadchart said. Significant quakes are extremely rare in Bangkok, and Friday's tremors sent shoppers and workers rushing into the street in alarm across the city. While there was no widespread destruction, the shaking brought some dramatic images of rooftop swimming pools sloshing their contents down the side of many of the city's towering apartment blocks and hotels. Even hospitals were evacuated, with one woman delivering her baby outdoors after being moved from a hospital building. A surgeon also continued to operate on a patient after evacuating, completing the operation outside, a spokesperson told AFP. But the worst of the damage was in Myanmar, where four years of civil war sparked by a military coup have ravaged the healthcare and emergency response systems. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issued an exceptionally rare appeal for international aid, indicating the severity of the calamity. Previous military regimes have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters. The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the quake, and at one major hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, medics were forced to treat the wounded in the open air. One official described it as a 'mass casualty area'. 'I haven't seen [something] like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted now,' a doctor told AFP. Mandalay, a city of more than 1.7 million people, appeared to have been badly hit. AFP photos showed dozens of buildings reduced to rubble. A resident reached by phone told AFP that a hospital and a hotel had been destroyed, and said the city was badly lacking in rescue personnel. A huge queue of buses and lorries lined up at a checkpoint to enter the capital early on Saturday. Offers of foreign assistance began coming in, with President Donald Trump on Friday pledging US help. 'It's terrible,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about the quake when asked if he would respond to the appeal by Myanmar's military rulers. 'It's a real bad one, and we will be helping. We've already spoken with the country.' India, France and the European Union offered to provide assistance, while the WHO said it was mobilising to prepare trauma injury supplies.
Associated Press
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Tokyo, Bangkok Aligned to Fight Disasters and Other Common Challenges
/ -- In a display of global city strategy, the governors of Tokyo and Bangkok have lined up to tackle climate-linked natural disasters, an aging and shrinking population, and other challenges facing their bustling Asian megalopolises. Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko and her Bangkok counterpart Chadchart Sittipunt signed a joint communiqué when they met for about an hour at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration building on February 6, the second day of Ms. Koike's three-day stay in Bangkok at the invitation of Mr. Chadchart. The statement commits the two governors to work together to build sustainable cities through addressing urban challenges such as 'declining birthrates, aging populations and the creation of innovation.' In the document, Ms. Koike emphasizes the importance of city-to-city cooperation in responding to 'increasingly frequent and severe' natural disasters occurring worldwide amid climate change. 'A more livable city for everyone' 'With this joint communiqué as a new first step, we want to move forward as partners in identifying common challenges and finding solutions,' the Tokyo governor said at a joint news conference following the signing ceremony. 'We aim to make its effects felt by the respective citizens of Bangkok and Tokyo.' Mr. Chadchart said he hoped the knowledge gained from this cooperation will benefit his citizens and help make Bangkok 'a more livable city for everyone.' 'We want to study some of Tokyo's (flood-response) models,' he said referring to massive floods that have regularly hit Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand. The governor also expressed interest in learning from Tokyo's sewerage and waterworks measures. His comment resonates with the slogan used by the former structural engineer to make Bangkok, a hub for the Southeast Asian region, 'a livable city for everyone' when he won the 2022 gubernatorial election. He aims to put Bangkok among the top 50 livable cities in the world by 2027, focusing on sustainable development that meets the needs of its 5.4 million residents. Ms. Koike, a former member of national parliament who was elected in 2016 as Tokyo's first female governor, also has a grand design for the Japanese capital city of 14 million that is the core of the world's largest metropolitan area. As part of Tokyo's strategy for 2050, her administration has recently set policy targets for 2035, including an effort to make Tokyo the 'best city in the world' that strikes a balance between ongoing 'growth' and 'maturity,' and makes people feel happy. 'Green infrastructure', an underground network to tame floods Before and after their formal talks, Mr. Chadchart guided Ms. Koike through a lush forest park in the city center and the huge Phra Khanong pumping station that controls water levels in Bangkok's canals and discharges water into the Chao Phraya River. Both facilities help mitigate fatal floods. The 'green infrastructure' built in the Benjakitti Forest Park is designed to absorb rainwater in the event of a downpour. The park's greenery also helps purify air and water while the city is gripped with chronic air pollution. Tokyo is operating nearly 30 'underground regulating reservoirs' to contain floodwater. Ms. Koike, once a minister of the environment, told Thai media that her government is considering a massive new project to build an underground channel to divert excessive rainwater into the Bay of Tokyo by connecting additional regulating reservoirs under construction. 'We want to continue sharing the knowledge with Bangkok about anti-flooding measures and climate change that are our common challenges,' she said. Bangkok tips Tokyo on how to invigorate nightlife In the evening, Ms. Koike and Mr. Chadchart viewed illuminated historic buildings along the Chao Phraya River, major attractions in Bangkok's nighttime tourism. 'You can revitalize the economy by making effective use of nighttime. Tokyo has needed to do something about its nightlife that ends too early after the COVID pandemic,' she told reporters after the tour, which she described as 'very helpful.' In the joint communiqué, Ms. Koike offers to share the knowledge necessary for further advancing sustainable tourism. She also proposed boosting cooperation in promoting the tourism industry in the two capital areas. Mr. Chadchart agrees to the idea. 'How Tokyo should restore lively nighttime. Bangkok has given us a great hint,' Ms. Koike told Thai media. The number of foreign tourists visiting Tokyo is estimated to have reached a record 25 million in 2024. As an example of Tokyo's own initiative to boost nighttime tourism, the governor cited the nightly projection mapping show, 'Tokyo Night & Light,' organized by her administration and related entities. It has already drawn half a million visitors since its launch in late February last year, she said. In the show, several short audio-visual artworks are projected onto the façade of the landmark 48-floor Tokyo Metropolitan Government No. 1 Building. Guiness World Records has recognized it as the largest permanent architectural projection-mapped display. The works feature popular characters and objects such as the premier movie monster Godzilla, traditional Ukiyo-e paintings and the world-famous J-pop duo YOASOBI. Developing youth to play an active role on the world stage Ms. Koike spent her last day in Bangkok visiting a top international school and meeting locally based representatives of small and medium enterprises from Tokyo. In the morning at NIST International School, which provides full International Baccalaureate programs and offers foreign language lessons in 12 different languages, the Tokyo governor had a first-hand look at how global talents are nurtured. 'In the sense that we are required to develop human resources capable of competing with their peers in the world's other megacities,' she said, 'I have learned much here today.' She later met the Bangkok representatives of startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Tokyo. Her official program in Bangkok ended when she visited the local offices of the Tokyo SME Support Center and the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute. It was Ms. Koike's second official overseas engagement since her re-election to a third term last July. In November she toured Cairo, Abu Dhabi and Baku to cement Tokyo's ties with the Arab world and present Tokyo's initiatives at the U.N. COP29 climate conference in the capital of Azerbaijan. In a wrap-up interview with Thai media, the Tokyo governor promised to continue working hard together with Bangkok to 'solve common challenges and improve benefits for residents.' The Chao Phraya River may be a major tourist attraction but, at the same time, 'it supports the livelihood of people and brings a great danger once it overflows,'she said. 'This is also the case with Tokyo.' International PR Strategic PR Division
