Collapse of the Royal Plaza Hotel, Thailand

At approximately 10:10 in the morning on August 13, 1993, the most tragic building collapse in the history of Thailand shocked the nation. The Royal Plaza Hotel collapsed swiftly and totally, leaving high only the front elevator hall, which was structurally independent from the rest of the building. The collapse of the Royal Plaza is unusual because building collapses most often occur during or just after construction. In the case of Royal Plaza, the collapse occurred about three years after the structure's last modification. At the time of the collapse, there were no exceptional environmental events, nor any reported misuse of the building to an extent that could generate a destructive force of such a scale. The Royal Plaza collapse, therefore, contradicts the broadly held notion that if a building has survived the construction stage, it is very unlikely to collapse without major external forces, such as an earthquake.