Engineering Professor Cites Concerns About Quakes' Effect on Dam
An AIT School of Engineering and Technology faculty member warned authorities to consider the worst-case scenario regarding a dam in Thailand 's Kanchanaburi province, coincidentally just hours before an earthquake struck just across the Thai border in Myanmar .
Dr. Pennung Warnitchai spoke on Tuesday at the National Human Rights Commission, and hours later a quake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit the Shan State in Myanmar, about 300 km from Chiang Mai. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The structural engineering expert urged authorities in his talk to consider the mass casualties and property destruction an earthquake could cause to the population living below the Srinakharin Dam. The floods caused by a break to the dam, which is built to withstand a magnitude 5.75 quake, could act like a tsunami. Technology is available, he said, but not yet in place to help prevent such a disaster.
Dr. Pennung's advisory comments were featured in a Wednesday, 25 January, Bangkok Post story on the quake. To read the full story click here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Jan2006_news08.php
AIT study helps Californians plan for tsunami
A report in which AIT participated is being used by officials from the San Francisco Bay area of California , U.S.A. , to prepare for the effects of a tsunami. The guide and one of its American co-authors was featured in the 8 January Contra Costa Times. To read the full story, click here:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/science/13578251.htm