The president of National Chinan University yesterday said repairs to its earthquake shattered campus in Puli township should be completed in six months time.
"Hopefully the campus will reopen next semester," said Chinan University president, Lee Chia-tung (
Architects are expected to complete a plan of repairs and cost assessment in one month's time, after which the repair work will begin immediately, Lee said.
The quake caused the collapse of a retaining wall and left cracks in six of the nine main buildings on the university campus. Roads connecting the university with the outside world have also been blocked by landslides.
Engineers say the buildings which have cracks in them are not unstable. The results of safety examinations by civil engineers and architects that were released on Monday showed the cracked buildings have not suffered any structural damage and do not need not be torn down.
The civil engineers estimated that repair and fortification can be completed in six months.
Until then, most of the university's 2,200 students will have classes in Taipei, sharing classrooms with students at National Taiwan University. Other students will go to Taiwan Normal University and National Chengchi University, according to their selected courses of study.
The decision to move students to universities in Taipei from Puli has drawn criticism from some politicians.
"In addition to teaching, a university bears a certain level of social responsibility toward the community where it is located," said Tsai Huang-lang (
Tsai said while students from other colleges have volunteered to come to the disaster areas to help the earthquake victims, students from Chinan are getting away when the community needs them the most.
Chinan students defended their move, saying they went through the same disaster as local residents and should be considered victims themselves.
"We suffered the disaster and lived in tents as other people did," said Li Chih-chun (
"Most students are undergoing fear and having bad dreams every night." Li said.
These students have decided to leave because they are facing a future full of uncertainty just like most victims do and they do not want to become an additional burden on the local community, Li said.
Hsu Hong (
"Many books in our library are still buried under the soil, and NTU can offer our students the resources they need," Hsu said.
The NCNU students have been notified that classes will start next Wednesday. However, many students are facing problems finding places to live in Taipei.
Kao Ta-wei (
Kao said the university is currently helping other students to find places to live, and some Taipei landlords have offered to rent their apartments to the students at lower prices.
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