The Taipei Department of Environmental Protection today fined the organizer of the S2O Songkran Music Festival NT$45,000 after receiving 55 noise complaints from residents.
The festival took place at Dajia Riverside Park in Taipei on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 10pm each day.
Photo courtesy of Blowin' in the Wind
The department received 17 complaints on Saturday and 38 complaints on Sunday.
Immediately after receiving the complaints, officials were sent to the festival, where they determined the noise levels to be in contravention of the Noise Control Act (噪音管制法), the department said in a statement.
A resident surnamed Hsieh (謝) said that he could hear "a rhythmic, low frequency noise" that apparently came from loud music during the festival in his home near Dahu Park in neighboring Neihu District (內湖), nearly 10km away from the festival.
Some elderly people were also feeling unwell or had palpitations from the noise, he said.
In response to the incident, Taipei Hydraulic Engineering Office officials said they would examine the complaints and try to make improvements.
Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺), a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that if noise issues related to large musical events were not solved, it would be hard for such shows to "coexist" with residents in densely populated Taipei.
She recommended that the city consult professionals on how to reduce unwanted effects such as reverberations, vibrations and echoes, and to consider stipulating rules to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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