The Ministry of Culture is to fund the restoration of cultural heritage that was damaged during the earthquake on Wednesday, Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said on Thursday.
An earthquake, which Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring center measured at magnitude 7.2, while the US Geological Service put it at 7.4, struck Taiwan on Wednesday morning, followed by more than 500 aftershocks as of yesterday, including more than 100 of “moderate” intensity, data from the Central Weather Administration showed.
The ministry began working with professional teams in each administrative region to check the damage to cultural heritage across the country after the major quake, it said in a news release on Thursday.
Photo courtesy of the Lugang Tianhou Temple
The ministry is to complete on-site investigations of the damage as soon as possible and provide funds for restoration work, Shih said.
As of Thursday morning, damage to 59 cultural assets had been reported, including 13 national monuments, 17 municipal monuments, 27 historic buildings, one cultural landscape and one group of buildings, the ministry said.
Among the 59 assets are four monuments designated by Hualien County, the municipality closest to the quake’s epicenter, including the Buddhist Yoshino Shrine (吉安慶修院) and Hualien Old Distillery (花蓮舊酒廠), which has been turned into the Hualien Cultural Creative Industries Park, it said.
In Taitung County, the Wan-an Brick Kiln (萬安磚窯) historic building was damaged, it added.
The Lujhou Li Residence (蘆洲李宅) in New Taipei City, a national monument, was partially damaged, with cracks appearing at the junction between an interior wall and the roof, it said.
Another national monument in the city, the Lin Family Mansion and Garden (林本源園邸), reported sunken and broken floors, cracked wood pilasters in rooms and cracked walls, it said.
The majority of damage to cultural assets nationwide were cracks on walls and floors at 19 places, and components falling off at 15 places, it said, adding that other cases included roof tile displacements, existing cracks expanding, damage to ancillary facilities such as fences, water towers and elevators, and structural damage.
Under Shih’s instruction, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage inspected damage at the Yuemei Tourism Sugar Factory (月眉觀光糖廠) recreation site in Taichung on Wednesday, and visited the Lujhou Li Residence and Lugang Tianhou Temple (鹿港天后宮) in Changhua County yesterday, it said.
The bureau also sought suggestions from academics and experts regarding restoration plans.
The ministry said that there had been no reports of major damage to cultural heritage sites so far.
Although the Huwei Sugar Refinery Plant (虎尾糖廠) in Yunlin County is a designated cultural heritage site, the chimney at the plant that fell down during the earthquake is not designed as part of the cultural heritage site, it said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS