Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Executive Yuan on Wednesday decided to relax qualifications for subsidized inspections of old residential buildings to include buildings built before the 921 earthquake in 1999, making the number of qualified buildings reach 600,000.

The decision was made amid public concern over the safety of old buildings following the Feb. 6 earthquake that left 117 people dead and hundreds of homes damaged in southern Taiwan.

According to the original plan, subsidized inspections are to be provided to residential buildings that gained building permits before May 1, 1997; but the Executive Yuan decided to include residential buildings built before the 921 earthquake in 1999, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun said.

As a result, the number of qualified residential buildings will go up from 520,000 units to 600,000 units, Sun added.     [FULL  STORY]