The Hualien County Government has filed for provisional seizure of assets belonging to developers, building contractors and several business proprietors in connection with the buildings that were damaged or toppled by the magnitude 6.0 earthquake on Tuesday last week.
The move was made on behalf of people affected by the collapsed or partially collapsed buildings in the city, Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi said, adding that county officials had filed the motions with the Hualien District Court.
Aside from the developers and contractors of the Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤) commercial and residential building and two apartment buildings on Hualien City’s Guosheng 6th Street, the provisional seizure orders would include the proprietors of two businesses in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building — the Beauty Inn (漂亮生活旅店) on the first and third floors, and A-Kuan Hotpot (阿官火鍋) on the first floor — along with the architects who were involved in the original construction and the subsequent renovation of these two businesses, Fu said at a news conference.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
“We want to prevent these people from transferring or hiding their assets, so that if found guilty of negligence or violating the law, they can be held legally responsible and the rights of victims can be protected,” he said.
Fu also led county officials in bowing and thanking everyone who had provided assistance and financial aid.
A judicial probe is under way, with Hualien prosecutors gathering construction documents and other evidence to determine if negligence, illegal renovations or building code violations were responsible for the buildings’ collapse, which resulted in 17 deaths and scores of people injured.
Investigators have obtained the blueprint and interior layout plans for the Yun Men Tsui Ti building, which showed that the first to third floors were designed as commercial spaces, which is why they had fewer support pillars and concrete walls, experts have said.
Yun Men Tsui Ti residents said the lower levels were converted into a hotel nine years ago, with ownership changing several times. About four years ago, the proprietor of the Beauty Inn took over and initiated major renovations.
Some residents alleged that the proprietor expanded room space by knocking down walls, which they said damaged and weakened the building’s structure and could have been a major reason for its partial collapse during the quake.
In other news, water supply in Hualien County has been completely restored after the quake temporarily cut off service to about 40,000 households, Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水) said yesterday.
The earthquake ruptured water pipelines in Hualien City, the Meilun area and Xincheng Township (新城), but Taiwan Water moved quickly to fix more than 800 sections of damaged pipe.
The operation took an entire week and saw more than 500 people working day and night to restore the water supply before the Lunar New Year, the company said.
Several areas in the water network still require adjustments and repairs, but they will not affect the overall supply of water, it said.
The expected surge in water use during the six-day Lunar New Year holiday could lead to low water pressure in certain areas, the state-owned corporation said.
While Taiwan Water’s teams are busy fixing the pipelines, it has stationed 45 water retrieving stations throughout the area and activated seven water delivery routes to provide water for hospitals and those in urgent need of water.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS