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Five charged in fatal building collapse during earthquake

Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted three former First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) employees and two construction workers for carrying out negligent construction work at the Tunghsing Building in Taipei that resulted in the death of 87 people in the Sept. 11, 1999, earthquake.

The five defendants, who face a charge of manslaughter, are former bank affairs department chief Huang Yi-yuan (黃益源), the bank's former Sungshan Branch manager Liu Wen-tang (劉文堂), department member Chen Hsiao-hung (陳小紅) and two construction workers, Chou Kan-yi (周侃億) and Chuang Chih-ming (莊智銘).

The Tunghsing Building was leveled by the earthquake that measured 7.3 on the Richter scale on Sept. 21, 1999. Eighty-seven people were killed at the scene when the building collapsed.

"These five defendants allegedly changed the central construction of the building, which, according to our investigations, was the main source of damage that caused the building to collapse so easily and kill so many people during the earthquake," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.

According to the indictment, the bank was located on the ground floor of the building. Two months before the earthquake, the three bank employees hired the two workers to remodel the building's arcade. They decided to take out four central supporting pillars of a suggested eight to create more room for the bank.
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