Officials say schools dangerously located

Taipei city councilors yesterday alleged that more than 11 of the city's schools have been built above the tunnels of abandoned coal mines.

They also called on the city government to conduct a comprehensive census of municipal school buildings, and to set a timetable to gather and make public geological reports as soon as possible.

DPP city councilors Lo Tsung-sheng (羅宗勝), Hsu Fu-nan (許富男) and Chen Hsiu-hui (陳秀惠) yesterday held a joint press conference in which they harshly criticized the city government for "deliberately endangering the public safety of school campuses," "carelessly planning school construction projects," and "doing a poor job of gathering geological information."

"Although the government claims the city has only five schools constructed above vacated coal mine shafts, our own investigations have shown that six more are similarly located and we believe the actual number may be higher," Lo said.

Chen said the fact schools that have been built above abandoned mines is an issue that should be brought to the attention of both the public and the authorities.

"The 921 earthquake drew public attention to the danger of fault lines, but little attention has been paid to the threat posed by abandoned coal mines," she said. "Official data has shown that an estimated 6,000 hectares of abandoned coal mine shafts lie below the city -- although I believe the actual figure may be higher. They represent a significant potential danger," she said.

Hsu went on to criticize the city government for failing to conduct geological studies on the hidden dangers. "If it does have the information and allows construction [of schools above abandoned mines] to take place, it might violate the Criminal Code by endangering public safety," he said.

Director of the city's Bureau of Education (教育局), David Lee (李錫津), said although there are no signs of immediate danger to those schools constructed above abandoned mines, he would call for a complete survey of the city's schools.

"The safety of the schools shouldn't be a problem, because from 1970, school authorities were instructed to ensure that a geological study confirmed it was safe build classrooms above such a site before construction was allowed to begin," he said.

Hsieh Chu-chuan (謝舉泉), of the city government's reconstruction bureau (建設局), said detailed geological information was available to schools and related agencies of the city government.

Those wishing to build above possibly dangerous sites had a responsibility to contact his bureau first, Hsieh said.