Study: High risk of quake damage in Taiwan

The Taiwanese government has published a study that shows areas that highly susceptible to structural collapse in the event of an earthquake. The study examines eight cities and counties.

The study was ordered after a mid-strength earthquake killed 116 people in a collapsed apartment tower. That prompted a wide-ranging examination of earthquake preparedness, including the possibility of risks because of lax or inconsistent code enforcement, according a report in The Los Angeles Times.

Officials will spend USD735 million over the next six years on improvements, the premier’s spokesman said.

In 2013, then-Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan warned that 4,000 structures could fall in a magnitude 6.3 quake, and many quakes around the Pacific Rim are significantly stronger.

“Whether the government can offer incentives to help homeowners to do quake retrofits, in the future that’s an important step for improvement in the cities,” said Li Wei-sen, chief secretary of Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction. The premier, he said, has “indicated immediate need for inspections of older buildings.”

Taiwan is unsafe as well because of its thousands of mixed-use buildings. Stores or offices on lower floors forsake crucial beams or walls to give themselves open space. If the ground floor buckles, everything above it can slip or collapse. Some structures are completely unlicensed.