The National Com-mittee on Earth-quakes (NCE) yesterday decided to propose that earthquake-resistant design be added to the curriculum of civil engineering schools nationwide.

Committee member and seismologist Penneung War-nitchai, who also heads a subcommittee on earthquake preparedness at the Engineering Institute of Thailand, said the proposal was to support an amendment to the Interior Ministry's "Order on Building Controls" that will add Bangkok and four surrounding provinces to the list of provinces where buildings are required to be earthquake-resistant.

Currently, only nine pro-vinces in the North and Kanchanaburi province are on the list.

"We will have problems once the order is enforced, as we don't have many engineers that can design seismic-resistant buildings," he said.

Penneung said the NCE set up a working group yesterday to draw up the proposal to be submitted to the Cabinet.

Established in 1983 after Bangkok experienced tremors from a mild earthquake with its epicentre in Kanchanaburi, the NCE advises the government on prevention and mitigation of damage from earthquakes.

It is chaired by Information and Communications Techno-logy Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, who also oversees the National Disaster Warning Centre.

The amendment to the Interior Ministry's building controls was drawn up years ago and is now being considered by the Council of State, the government's legal advisory body. It is expected to be approved and enforced later this year.

Penneung said the amendment would require the designs of all buildings 15 metres or higher in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Pathum Thani to be able to resist tremors generated by earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale if the epicentre is in the Andaman Sea, and 7.5 if the epicentre is in Kanchanaburi.

The same requirement will apply to dams and bridges in all 15 provinces on the new list, he said.

Penneung said the figures were calculated from predictions of earthquakes that might occur in or affect Thailand, and based on current knowledge about active faults in and around the country. "Existing constructions, including Srinakarindh Dam, were designed to resist tremors from high-magnitude earthquakes with their epicentre in Burma, but not as close as Kanchanaburi and the Andaman Sea," he said.

Penneung admitted that tremors from a 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Kanchanaburi, where two active faults are located - Three Pagodas and Sri Sawad - might not happen in this generation, but "to prevent a disaster we might have to be pessimistic".

He said individuals and state officials should stop thinking that Thailand is immune from the destructive power of earthquakes.