A powerful magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck southern Taiwan yesterday morning damaged at least 23 historical buildings in Tainan, with the bell tower next to Fengshen Temple (風神廟) and the Reception Archway (接官亭) collapsing, city government officials said.
The wooden pillar on the second floor of the Yanshui Octangle Building (鹽水八角樓) is suspected to have shifted and some bricks fell off the outer wall. Cracks were discovered at the Tainan Grand Matsu Temple (台南大天后宮), while the main gate shifted and some fragmented ceramic decorations fell off.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau said that the collapse of the Fengshen Temple bell tower and the Reception Archway is the most serious damage it has uncovered. However, the bureau added that both the bell tower and the drum tower had previously been rebuilt, as the bell tower was relocated due to road construction, and the drum tower is a complete replica of the original.
The Tainan Municipal Cultural Heritage Administration said that as the nearby drum tower was also damaged, it has decided to protect it by first stabilizing the area and erecting fences around it for the safety of passers-by.
Debris from the bell tower has been numbered, photographed and placed in front of the nearby Siluo Temple (西羅殿) for future reconstruction.
The bureau said that it has asked engineers to inspect damaged historical buildings in the city, including the Confucius Temple, which suffered minor damage.
In addition, major cultural and historical attractions, including the Chimei Museum (奇美博物館), Fort Provincia (赤崁樓, also known as Chikan Tower), Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城), Fort Zeelandia (安平古堡, also known as Anping Fort) and Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) remained intact, the bureau said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS