Fruit, flowers and incense paper were laid on a table yesterday, as authorities prepared a ceremony before demolishing a precariously tilting building that has become a symbol of Taiwan’s biggest quake in 25 years.
The glass-fronted Uranus building in Hualien is a 10-story mix of shops and apartments that has stood for about 40 years.
Wednesday’s earthquake, which Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring center measured at magnitude 7.2, while the US Geological Service put it at 7.4, caused it to tilt at a 45-degree angle, its twisted exterior becoming one of the most recognizable images to emerge from the disaster.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
By yesterday, authorities said they would start taking it apart, first preparing a table of offerings in front of the building to ensure a smooth demolition and to “soothe the lost souls” of those killed in the quake.
Chips, instant noodles, bottles of soda and folded piles of paper money for the dead were set alongside baskets of flowers and a container holding incense sticks.
“[We] offer sacrifices and pray for blessing for the demolition work of the Uranus building,” an announcer said over a loudspeaker.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
Traditional cultural rites like blessing a new home or providing offerings to spirits after buying land are commonplace in Taiwan.
Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) and other officials wearing construction vests each lit a joss stick and bowed to the building.
“The Uranus was built in 1986. All structures age due to time, earthquakes and many other conditions,” she told reporters.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, REUTERS
“We hope to complete the demolition within two weeks so Hualien people can return to their regular lives,” Hsu said.
Workers then began using a pink crane to smash the glass windows covering the building’s exterior, revealing the inner brick facade as rain started to drizzle.
By about 1pm, a severe aftershock hit the city, alarming the construction team as the building appeared to lean more perilously forward.
Accelerating the process, workers began inserting giant metal bars to stabilize the structure.
Inside an exposed upper-story floor, a piano could be seen lying on its side, surrounded by debris from an apartment damaged by the massive tremor.
So far, at least 12 people are known to have died from the quake, with more than 1,100 injured, although authorities have not specified the severity of the injuries.
Hundreds remain stranded around Taroko National Park, some in a hostel, others in a luxury hotel, on local hiking trails and a school cut off by landslides.
A network of tunnels traverses the region, with key roads leading to the park now blocked by falling rocks. Rescue teams have been mobilized from all over Taiwan to look for those still missing.
“Rescuers are not giving up, as the search continues in the mountains for earthquake survivors,” vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said, calling them the “true heroes of a resilient Taiwan.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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