How Could So Many Tall Buildings Have Been Built on Fault Lines?

  How Could So Many Tall Buildings Have Been Built on Fault Lines?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 8, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

At midnight on February 6, a strong earthquake of magnitude seven on the Richter scale occurred in Hualien, causing the collapse of several tall buildings.

The structures that collapsed in Hualien this time were principally tall buildings, all of them coincidentally being located on the "Milun Fault Line," which collapsed or slanted at the instant of shaking, resulting in casualties. In the early years, because of inadequate data, when structures, such as the Marshal Hotel were issued building permits, perhaps it was because of inadequate professional knowledge. However, according to today's standards, if local governments continued to issue building permits for tall buildings without inquiring about geological conditions, and did not impose higher safety standards, wouldn’t it be driving the people over the cliff?

Two years ago, after the collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex in Tainan City, it brought forth a trend of "checkups for old houses," requiring all old houses to undergo safety inspections. Taipei City, for the first time, made public a map of potential soil liquefaction areas, on the surface wanting to allow citizens to have the "right to knowledge," in reality, relegating safety responsibility to the public. However, two years on, how many high-sounding slogans have been implemented by the government? How many old buildings have been inspected? Lai Ching-te, then Tainan City mayor, is now Premier; perhaps he should make a statement about this matter.

The governance of a state, in actuality does not need high-sounding slogans. After the collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex, if the government in a full-scale effort had demanded that public buildings and condominium buildings on fault lines strengthen pillars and columns, the quake disaster in Hualien today perhaps could have been alleviated. The important thing is the government needs the capacity for risk analysis and must offer practicable goals and means. In any case, the royal way to cope with disasters is to endlessly strengthen professional drills and administrative norms; relying solely on pretty slogans and superficial efforts would be useless.

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