The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday approved an amendment requiring owners of older residential buildings that are prone to catching fire to establish safety management committees. Owners would face fines of up to NT$200,000 for not forming such a committee before a set deadline.
The issue was brought to the attention of lawmakers after a fire in Kaohsiung in October last year resulted in 46 deaths.
All older residential buildings, not just those that are fire-prone, should be a priority for legislators. More than 4.4 million buildings across the nation were built more than three decades ago, Ministry of the Interior data show, and these structures are also vulnerable to earthquake damage.
The majority of the buildings in Taipei and New Taipei City were built before the current building code, and this is a problem as Taiwan experiences an average of 2,200 earthquakes per year — or about 39 quakes per week. This is because there are 36 active tectonic faults across the nation, and although the majority of these quakes are tiny, there are occasional large ones that cause structural damage.
The government has committed to urban renewal, but domestic banks raised interest rates on such projects, despite the central bank sparing such projects from credit controls, the Taipei Times reported on April 7. Construction costs have more than doubled over the past three years, and capitalization requirements for domestic lenders introduced by the Financial Supervisory Commission are adding to profitability pressure on renewal projects. This shows that the government is not doing enough to subsidize urban renewal, seemingly leaving such projects to market forces.
Concrete apartment buildings typically have a safety lifespan of between 50 and 100 years, depending on the materials used and the quality of the building’s maintenance. Many buildings in Taiwan are reaching that lifespan, and their replacement should be considered a pressing issue. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Tainan in 2016 caused the collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong residential building, resulting in 115 deaths. Although it was discovered that improper construction materials were used, similar collapses could occur in older concrete buildings that lack sufficient steel reinforcement.
The prevalence of old buildings in Taiwan exacerbates the already concerning housing crisis in which speculation pushes young buyers out of the new-building market. Many people in Taiwan live with their parents until their 40s, saving for decades before they can even consider the possibility of owning a home, and even then might be forced to purchase older, unsafe property.
Fire is also a safety concern for older residential areas due to building density, the use of flammable materials in construction, and insufficient or blocked fire-escape routes. Access to many older buildings in Taipei and New Taipei City is through narrow alleys, and while these alleyways have their charm, they could spell disaster in the event of a fire or earthquake when dozens of people are trying to flee to safety. Many older buildings also have illegal additions that worsen this density problem, such as balconies that could block rescue ladders, or add-ons built on the side of ground-level units that further narrow access routes.
The two biggest obstacles to making progress with urban renewal projects are costs and the need for resident consensus before a structure can be renovated. Lawmakers should pass amendments that provide greater subsidies to such projects, subsidize temporary housing for residents during reconstruction, and allow reconstruction work to proceed with a majority approval rather than a 100 percent consensus.
Urban renewal is exceedingly important to ensure the safety of all residents in Taiwan. It should be handled like a national security issue, and not one of profit for developers and investors.
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
When a recall campaign targeting the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was launched, something rather disturbing happened. According to reports, Hualien County Government officials visited several people to verify their signatures. Local authorities allegedly used routine or harmless reasons as an excuse to enter people’s house for investigation. The KMT launched its own recall campaigns, targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, and began to collect signatures. It has been found that some of the KMT-headed counties and cities have allegedly been mobilizing municipal machinery. In Keelung, the director of the Department of Civil Affairs used the household registration system
RSS