The Central Geological Survey on Friday updated its database of areas that are prone to soil liquefaction, adding five counties and cities in central and southern Taiwan.
The new additions are Taichung and Chiayi City and Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties.
The database showed that a power plant run by Formosa Plastics Group in Yunlin’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) and the Yunlin high-speed rail station are both in areas that are highly vulnerable to soil liquefaction.
Soil liquefaction occurs when shaking during an earthquake causes saturated granular material to behave like a liquid, which can result in serious damage to buildings on such sites.
Many areas in Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi are at high risk of soil liquefaction, because they are mostly made up of coastal alluvium, although public construction projects in those areas took the risk into consideration and adopted proper preventive measures, the agency said.
Soil liquefaction occurs only when multiple conditions are met, the agency said, urging the public not to panic.
The database, which was launched on March 14, initially included only Taipei, New Taipei City, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Hsinchu City, as well as Yilan, Hsinchu and Pingtung counties.
Different colors are used to represent different levels of vulnerability, with green representing low vulnerability, yellow medium vulnerability and red high vulnerability.
The public can access the database (www.moeacgs.gov.tw/2016.htm) via computer or smartphone to check if their homes are in soil liquefaction-prone areas by typing in their address.
A national map of areas prone to soil liquefaction is expected to be completed by 2018, the agency said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS