The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering yesterday called for new laws to encourage the reconstruction of weaker structures, following the partial collapse of four buildings during Tuesday’s earthquake in Hualien.
The magnitude 6 earthquake, which occurred at 11:50pm on Tuesday, 18.3km northeast of Hualien County Hall, had an output level of 7 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity at its strongest point and caused damage to several structures, including two bridges and multiples buildings.
The Marshal Hotel suffered the most damage and was left leaning to one side after its bottom three floors crumpled.
Photo: CNA
At yesterday’s Lunar New Year-end news conference held by the Ministry of Science and Technology, center director-general Huang Shih-chien (黃世建) said the hotel, like structures that collapsed in previous earthquakes, was built before 1999 when stricter building code regulations were introduced.
This, combined with its proximity to the closest fault line, led to its collapse, Huang said.
Often these buildings have large open spaces in their ground floors, making them more prone to collapse, he said.
This is further exacerbated by the occupation of upper floors by residents, he said, adding that pillars or additional walls should be used to provide better structural support.
One of the issues stalling the reinforcement or reconstruction of older buildings is the large number of people who have property rights in the buildings.
Legal regulations governing the reconstruction process should be simplified, he added.
“If a consensus cannot be reached to move forward with reconstruction, I suggest property owners start with incremental, structural reinforcement,” he said, adding that owners of buildings with combined commercial and residential occupation be prohibited from making upper floors of their buildings publicly available until passing earthquake-resilience assessments.
Building Safety Certification Association director-general Tai Yun-fa (戴雲發) said reinforcements would not be enough and that older buildings must be reconstructed.
The Marshal Hotel had already undergone reinforcements, but was still unable to withstand a strong earthquake, he said, adding that the problem lay with its irregular facade and arcade-style architectural design.
Comparing the hotel with the collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong complex in Tainan during the earthquake on Feb. 6, 2016, Tai said that the latter differed in that its layout was not well designed.
The U-shaped design of that building, along with the use of poor-quality building materials, led to its collapse, he said.
Meanwhile, Huang said the center is capable of predicting an earthquake between five and 10 seconds in advance.
High-tech industry operators, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and United Microelectronics Corp, should network their systems with the center to allow shutdown of equipment in the event of an earthquake, he said, adding this could prevent sensitive systems from damage.
The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp is already networked with the center, he said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS