TAIGER explosives test angers fire chief in Hsinchu

In an attempt to study the structure of the earth's crust, the National Central University's Taiwan Integrated Geodynamics Research (TAIGER) explosives test plan was put into action early on Friday morning, involving a blast comparable to a 2.6 earthquake on the Richter scale.

The plan involved the university's Department of Earth Sciences exploding 750kg of plastic explosives on the side of Touchien River (頭前溪) in the Erchong (二重) area of Chutung (竹東) Township in Hsinchu County.

The massive explosion registered as a level three earthquake in Hsinchu City and Chutung and was felt as far as 10km away. The amount of explosives used would be sufficient to bring down a 30-story building.

Hsinchu County fire chief Lin Hsiang-chin (林祥欽) was enraged upon learning of the test and said that although Article 14 of the Fire Prevention Act (消防法) stipulates that an application must be filed with the county's fire brigade before explosives are set off, no such application had been filed.

Lin said that a letter would be sent to the school today explaining that it would be fined if it was found to have violated any law.

Lin Chih-chun (林志鈞), head of police at the Chutung precinct, said that Diching Co represented the school in filing an application asking the police to monitor the transportation of explosives to the Touchien River, but that the question of whether or not the explosion was legal was not the police's responsibility.

Because the explosion took place close to the Taiwan High Speed Rail bridge across the Touchien River and its Touchien maintenance works, high speed rail representatives at Hsinchu Station said that the control center in Taoyuan sent staff to inspect the facilities immediately upon receiving information about the "earthquake," only to confirm that everything was normal.

The TAIGER plan, which is sponsored by the National Science Council, is aimed at monitoring and mapping the structure of the earth's crust underneath Taiwan.

It also aims to set up a basic framework for tectonic plate movement.

A representative of the university department, which is in charge of the project, said that natural earthquakes are spontaneous and that this experiment used a man-made earthquake to survey the earth's crust.

It also said that the project was carried out in cooperation with a US institution and that the results would be made public once they are complete.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY HUNG YU-FANG AND YU TAI-LANG