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.
A free exhibition aimed at teaching the public about air-raid shelters and basic emergency personal protection skills today opened on the concourse level of the Taipei MRT's Ximen Station. The event, organized by the National Police Agency, aims to raise awareness about disaster preparedness ahead of nationwide air raid drills scheduled from July 15 to 18, which are part of broader urban resilience exercises. The exhibition outlines the recommended actions people should take depending on whether they are indoors, commuting or outdoors when air-raid sirens sound. It also teaches people how to equip air-raid shelters and pack emergency "go bags," with displays
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
An electric bus charging facility at Taipei Metro’s Beitou Depot officially opened yesterday with 22 charging bays to serve the city’s 886 electric buses. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) told a ceremony to mark the opening of the facility that the city aims to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2030. The number of electric buses has grown from about 650 last year to 886 this year and is expected to surpass 1,000 by the end of the year, Chiang said. Setting up the charging station in a metro depot optimizes land and energy use, as the metro uses power mainly during the
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
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