Sun, Sep 26, 1999 page3

• Investigators work while relatives wait

  INVESTIGATION At least 50 people remain missing as engineers rule out liquefaction as the cause of the collapse of the Tunghsing building

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  As hopes faded yesterday of finding any survivors in the destroyed Tunghsing Building (東星大樓) in Taipei City, bulldozers continued digging deeper into what was once a 12-storey building in an effort to recover the bodies of 50 people still unaccounted for.

  Civil engineers, meanwhile, said yesterday that damage to the structure -- not liquefaction caused by last Tuesday's quake -- was the likely cause of the building's collapse.

  While bulldozers peeled off the upper part of the building that had housed a hotel, a bank and residential apartments on Pateh Road, four more bodies were found in the rubble, bringing the death toll at the site to 32.

  

  Search-and-rescue teams continue their efforts to find those still trapped deep beneath the rubble of the Tunghsing building in Taipei's Sungshan district yesterday.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  But over 50 were still trapped in the wreckage, city officials said.

  Amid flying dust caused by the demolition work, relatives and friends of those still trapped in the wreckage kept waiting, though with little hope that any survivors could be found in the rubble.

  Lee Fa-jen (李發仁), 33, who escaped the collapse because of a late return home on Tuesday, said his mother was still inside. "Once the building is gone, we can build a new one. Once the money is gone, we can earn it later. But with relatives gone, we can find them no more," he said.

  Lee then urged the government to find out the real cause of the collapse so as to do justice to those who lost their lives.

  At the same time, professionals from Taipei Civil Engineering Technicians' Association -- which was endorsed by the Taipei District Court to help the investigation -- joined city officials and prosecutors in collecting evidence at the site.

  Chien Mao-chou (簡茂洲), a civil engineer from the association, said his colleagues entered the second level of the basement yesterday -- a feat made possible only after the rescuers began to clear debris from the site -- to find that the whole basement did not sink nor tilt after the quake.

  "So we've ruled out the possibility of liquefaction as the cause of the collapse," Chien said.

  Seismologists say one of the greatest risks of earthquake damage occurs when the ground beneath the building liquefies -- a particular danger in some areas of Taipei, which is built on an alluvial basin.

  Chang Chung-peng (莊忠鵬), chairman of the association's appraisal committee who examined the first level of the basement the morning the quake struck, said the first to seventh floors of the building had collapsed.

  "They didn't sink. Instead, it is defects in the building's structure that is related to the collapse," Chien added.

  But further investigation is required before the association can come up with a detailed analysis of what they dubbed the "failure of the building's structure," Chien said.

  When asked if their investigation had shown that remodeling work at the First Commercial Bank on the ground floor had caused the collapse (as alleged by many residents of the building), Chuang said "such speculation lacks obvious evidence, so it can not serve as the basis of our analysis."

  "All of our judgment should have a scientific basis," Chien added.

  Lee Horng-ji (李鴻基), director general of the city's Bureau of Public Works, echoed the views of the two civil engineers.

  "I can only say that we've ruled out two possibilities: liquefaction engendered by the quake and instability (of the building) caused by soft soil," Lee said.

  Chou Chih-jung (周志榮), vice prosecutor general at the the Taipei District Court, said a related investigation is under way.

  "We need to investigate any people and material evidence related to the case ... But my personal feeling is that we should not make any speculations at the current stage," he said.

  "What our society needs is the real answer, and what we need to do is to find out the real cause of the collapse," he said.

  Meanwhile, the dangerous building count in the city reached 24, including 449 households, with four more added to the list yesterday, said Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in a press conference yesterday afternoon.

  Ma said residents in these buildings -- now marked as dangerous by red notes posted by the city government -- are requested to evacuate for safety's sake.

  A one-off rental subsidy of NT$30,000 will serve as an incentive for these residents to leave their dangerous dwellings, said Ma.

  "Of course, it is their own dwellings that have some problems. And if the fault lies in the construction companies which built these places, then people should seek compensation from these firms," he said.

  "But it is from the angle of public safety that the city government offers such an incentive to encourage them to leave," he said.
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