A project to reconstruct a building in Taipei city that was toppled during the 921 Earthquake was completed yesterday, weeks ahead of the 10th anniversary of the disaster.
Former residents of the Tunghsing Building (東星大樓) gathered in the lobby of the reconstructed complex for a cocktail party yesterday, in anticipation of their return home.
However, the residents will have to wait three months before they can move in, as the paperwork has yet to be completed.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lin Chung-huan (林崇煥), director of the Urban Redevelopment Office at the Taipei City government, said that despite the many twists and turns in the reconstruction process, the city took many steps to facilitate the project.
The 12-story Tunghsing Building fell when a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan on Sept. 21, 1999. Eighty-seven residents of the building were killed, 105 injured and more than 250 left homeless in the collapse. It was the only building in Taipei City to be completely destroyed by the earthquake, which was centered about 200km outside the city.
The Taipei City Government has since refused to admit responsibility for the collapse and had engaged in a legal battle with former residents.
The project, which did not start until 2004, was suspended in October 2006 as a result of a financial crisis faced by the contractor.
The project was taken over by another contractor in August last year, but it came to standstill again two months later because of a similar problem.
The building was completed by a third contractor, which took over the project in December.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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