A panel investigating last month's huge landslide on Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) yesterday said water seeping through cracks in the hill caused it to collapse and bury a section of the freeway.
The panel headed by Liao Hung-jiun (廖洪鈞) of the Taiwan Geotechnical Society released its initial report on the cause of the landslide yesterday.
Liao said that while water seepage was a key factor in the collapse, it was not the only cause.
Further investigation is needed to find out what caused the cracks, he said.
He said the panel would look more into the geological composition of the dip slope, the landscape, the underground hydrology, the design and allocation of rock anchors and the maintenance process to find out what really happened.
The ministry commissioned the panel of 11 experts in geology and engineering from Taiwan and abroad after the landslide on April 25 in which a retaining wall along Freeway No. 3 near Cidu (七堵) in Taipei County collapsed without warning.
Three cars were covered by earth, while many other vehicles narrowly escaped. A round-the-clock rescue operation found the wreckage of three cars and the four bodies of their occupants.
Liao yesterday said the team would talk to people responsible for designing the section of the freeway to get detailed information on its original design.
He said his team would compare the blueprints with the results of their on-site inspection to see if the design was appropriate.
About 300m of Freeway No. 3 in Keelung was buried when the hillside collapsed. Most of the mud and rocks have been cleared off, but authorities are still inspecting conditions and expect to reopen the section by the end of the month.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard