The Ministry of the Interior yesterday outlined recent changes to building codes that include new mandates to reinforce structures susceptible to earthquakes.
The amendments to the Building Earthquake Resistance Design Regulations and Explanation (建築物耐震設計規範及解說) went into effect on Oct. 1.
Many tall buildings in Taiwan have been improperly modified to house street-level shop fronts, which can compromise structural integrity during a quake, National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering Director-General Chou Chung-che (周中哲) told a news conference.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Illegal constructions on top of buildings are another vulnerability common in buildings throughout the nation, he said.
The new rules require susceptible buildings to install ad hoc structural reinforcements to boost safety until a long-term solution can be implemented, be it an overhaul or demolition, Chou said.
The ministry and the center have ensured that every vulnerable student dormitory up to the junior-high school level has been reinforced, he said, adding that they are now focusing on hotels, markets and other public buildings.
People who are concerned about the structural integrity of the building they live in can contact the center for help, especially for structures that have exposed pillars, he said.
The new rules revised quake resistance standards for structures near fault lines to include the ability to withstand shallow earthquakes, he added.
This means new buildings near fault lines must be 20 to 30 percent more resistant to quakes than before, which translates into an estimated 5 percent increase in construction costs, Chou said.
The center is collating information on land liquefaction cases to map risks nationwide while fine-tuning testing protocols and quality-control procedures for base isolation and quake reduction components, he said.
People are encouraged to use government subsidies to check the quake resistance of their residential buildings, Construction and Planning Agency Director-General Wu Hsin-hsiu (吳欣修) said.
“The safety of your house is far more important than its real-estate value,” he said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS