The Taipei City Government yesterday decided to appeal to the Taiwan High Court a ruling made last month by the Taipei City District Court that the city government must pay approximately NT$480 million to the former residents of the Tunghsing Building (東星大樓) for losses caused by a devastating earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999.
Bureau of Public Works Commissioner William Chen (陳威仁) said that despite the appeal, the city government would keep assisting the quake victims and the reconstruction of the building, which is scheduled to start on Sept. 21 this year.
At a press conference held yesterday afternoon, Chen explained that this catastrophe, which claimed 87 Tunghsing residents in 1999, was caused by a combination of natural disaster and flawed construction designs. It is unreasonable to lay all the blame on the city government, Chen stressed.
Chen said the National Compensation Law (
On the other hand, according to the verdict reached last month, prosecutors said city officials were guilty of negligence in supervising the building's construction.
In this regard, Chen said yesterday that construction companies and architects should take responsibility for quality control.
Requiring the personnel in the Office of Building Standards (
Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀), director of the city government's Rules and Regulations Commission (法規會), said the city government had already provided NT$260 million in social subsidies to former Tunghsing residents.
The government will devote itself to assisting the victims, the director said.
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