On top of fire this week, Bangkok’s Chinatown deals with house collapse

A house fell this morning in the same district where a fire killed two people on June 26 in the Samphanthawong neighborhood. The neighborhood is next to the Chao Phraya River. However, the renter claimed that learning that everyone in the house was safe made him feel relieved. The 78-year-old woman who owns the home claimed that unlike contemporary homes, the older one was constructed without supporting beams. Today, the damaged area was blocked off and the location was inspected by local law enforcement.

According to the owner of the home, the two-story building was Bangkok’s first Chinese-style structure when it was constructed 260 years ago. Two individuals died in a fire that occurred earlier this week in the ancient Sampeng market in the Samphanthawong area. Chinatown in Bangkok has had a difficult week. A tenant claimed that during the early hours of the morning, a piece of the house collapsed in, waking him up with a tremendous noise. According to her, the home’s age may have contributed to subsidence and the eventual collapse. When Bangkok became Thailand’s capital in 1782, Chinese immigrants began to settle there. Before firefighters got on the scene to put out the flames, terrified consumers fled for their lives as the fire destroyed 5 houses. The Sampeng market and Thailand’s Chinese minority have a long history together, much like the mansion that collapsed today.