About 200 Kaohsiung residents yesterday rallied in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs headquarters in Taipei, demanding the removal of underground oil tanks and pipelines and the termination of Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) tunneling operations in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港), which they said is atop an active fault line.
The protest was sparked by the collapse of Zhonglin and Sincuo roads and the Daliao junction of the Expressway No. 88, which protesters said were caused by construction work last month.
Protesters said sections of Zhonglin Road were continuing to crumble even though a large amount of soil was being refilled at the site.
Photo: Chen Wei-han, Taipie Times
Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that the collapse might be related to the activity of the Chishan Fault, and residents have feared that underground oil tanks could explode in the event of a large earthquake.
Fight for Health Women’s Group Kaohsiung Chapter director Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀菊) said the ministry should conduct and publish a thorough seismological survey of the area before Taipower is allowed to continue with its operations.
Should the fault systems be determined as active, the ministry should remove oil refinery facilities and prohibit any large developments, Hung said.
Meanwhile, protesters said that the site of a proposed industrial waste landfill at the foot of Matou Mountain (馬頭山) in Kaohisung’s Cishan (旗山) and Neimen (內門) districts is between two fault lines, and construction activity might cause sewage to seep into the groundwater system that converges at the Gaoping River (高屏溪), which is the main source of the city’s water supply.
The ministry said that it would instruct the Central Geological Survey to conduct a comprehensive geological survey of the areas to assess possible risks, while Taipower said it carried out foundation underpinning at the collapsed sites.
Later yesterday, protesters staged another demonstration at the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters, saying that Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) was perfunctory in dealing with Taipower’s flawed management because she was too involved in election campaigning.
Protesters demanded Chen reject the landfill proposal, saying that former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) had done the same.
Taipower said that the Chishan Fault could not affect construction at Siaogang, and that the collapses were due to a mechanical failure that caused groundwater to seep into the construction site and affect the roads.
It said it had conducted pre-construction geological surveys, while underground oil tanks and pipelines were earthquake resistant and constructed in accordance with regulations.
However, an oil leak was reported at Zhonglin Road yesterday afternoon due to a flawed backfilling operation, the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau said, adding that about 300 tonnes of oil was spilled and that it had requested Taipower drain the spill and remove any contaminated soil.
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