The government has failed to learn a lesson from the 921 Earthquake that hit Taiwan in 1999, and has allowed poorly constructed buildings to continue to exist, an expert said on Sunday, calling on the authorities to make drastic changes to prevent further quake disasters.
The Weiguan Jinlong complex in Tainan should not have collapsed during the magnitude 6.4 quake on Feb. 6, National Taiwan University professor Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川) said at the opening of a Taipei forum on the quake resistance capacity of buildings in Taiwan.
He accused the government of shirking its responsibility.
Chern, who teaches in the university’s Department of Civil Engineering, served as head of the Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission from 2012 to 2013.
After the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, academics discovered that mixed-purpose buildings — ones that contain residences and commercial properties — and which are located on street corners are the most vulnerable to collapse in such disasters, Chern said.
They suggested that the government conduct a comprehensive inspection of such buildings higher than seven stories, but “nothing ever happened,” and the quality of privately owned buildings remains a mess, Chern said.
Chern told the forum that more than 98 percent of privately owned buildings in Taiwan are built using reinforced concrete, which makes structures more resistant to earthquakes.
“The cost of reinforced concrete accounts for only about 12 percent of the total construction cost of a building, but some developers still try to cut back on that cost with no regard for human lives,” Chern said.
A post-921 Earthquake investigation found that close to 90 percent of the collapsed buildings did not meet the 25 percent of quake-resistant capacity they were designed to meet, he said.
The government in 2004 introduced a quality management system requiring builders, construction companies and government agencies to jointly oversee the quality of construction work, but the Construction and Planning Agency and local governments have failed to perform their duties, Chern said.
The architects and technicians responsible for supervising construction work are often hired by the companies, leading to endless cases of bribery and a lack of oversight by authorities, he said.
Chern said the Construction and Planning Agency and local governments should carry out routine checks on the professionals that supervise construction projects, and use big data to identify irregularities in the businesses of builders and architects.
Builders and architects should also be made to follow ethical rules and be subject to supervision, Chern said, adding that they should also receive training to improve their knowledge of construction materials and methods.
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