RE-ENFORCED: Implementing a third-party supervision system to ensure integrity at the design and construction stages of a building project is to be a priority bill

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 09, 2018
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

Following Tuesday night’s deadly earthquake in Hualien, the Cabinet yesterday said it

is mulling a compulsory “health check-up” of older buildings and the establishment of a third-party construction supervision system to improve building safety.

The Ministry of the Interior gave a report of its post-earthquake emergency response and disaster relief measures to the Cabinet and said it is contemplating revising laws to enforce a compulsory assessment of buildings that are thought to be structurally weak, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chiu Chang-yueh (邱昌嶽) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan.

Buildings that collapsed during Tuesday’s earthquake were commercial and residential complexes, where supportive structures in the lower parts of buildings are often partially removed to make room for commercial space, meaning the structures are less earthquake resistant, Chiu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-07

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) says the powerful earthquake that hit Hualien in

eastern Taiwan at just before midnight on Tuesday had the highest intensity of any quake since 1999. That year, on September 21, a devastating quake with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter Scale struck central Taiwan, leaving more than 2,400 dead.

CWB seismologist Chen Kuo-chang said Wednesday that the Hualien earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.0, was the first since 1999 to have an intensity of over 7 at the location of the quake.

While magnitude measures the size of the earthquake at its source or the seismic energy it releases, intensity is a description of how strongly the quake is felt at different locations. Although Tuesday’s quake had an intensity of 7 near the epicenter, it had an intensity of 3 in the greater Taipei area.

Chen also spoke about the vast number of aftershocks which have hit Taiwan in recent days, calling them “rare”. At least 19 aftershocks occurred after a smaller earthquake on Sunday night, which had a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter Scale. Dozens more have rattled Taiwan since Tuesday night’s quake. Chen said that more analysis is needed to find out the cause of the unusual number of aftershocks.    [SOURCE]

Democratic societies like Taiwan can still fall victim to an authoritarian corporate environment.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Justin Hugo

This is the third in a 5 part series. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Authoritarianism, tax and profit

The absence of external checks on government described in part 2 inspires little faith

given that the government has such high control of the largest companies in Singapore. Can companies be expected to act for the benefit of their workers without public scrutiny or government guidance? Evidently not, given the low (de facto) minimum wages in Singapore, and as we will soon see, the miserable social protection offered to Singaporeans.

Whereas the mistake the international community makes is misunderstanding how Singapore is run, the mistake with regards Taiwan stems from not understanding that despite being politically democratic, Taiwan is corporately and, to some extent, socially authoritarian.    [FULL  STORY]

Last missing employee of the collapsed Marshal Hotel was plucked from the rubble this afternoon by rescue workers

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The last of three employees trapped when the Marshal Hotel (統帥大飯店) collapsed during last night’s deadly magnitude 6.0 earthquake, Liang Shu-wei (梁書瑋), was finally rescued after a nearly 14-hour ordeal, reported CNA.

After a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck just off the coast of Hualien, rocking the city with a level of 7 intensity for 70 seconds, a number of buildings collapsed, including the Marshal Hotel. In the case of the 11-story Marshal Hotel, the first three floors of the building were completely flattened.

When the earthquake struck, one employee was in the B1 level of the basement preparing to clock out, and miraculously survived because a pocket of the floor remained intact despite the floors above it collapsing. After being trapped in the rubble for four hours, the man, Chen Ming-hui (陳明輝), who is in his 50s, was freed from the ruins of the building by rescue workers.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Joseph Yeh and William Yen

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) A total of 31 foreign nationals have been affected by the powerful earthquake that struck Hualien County in eastern Taiwan late Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday.

Among the 31, there were 14 South Koreans, nine Japanese, two Czechs, two Singaporeans, and one Filipino, Thai, Japanese and Indian, MOFA said in a statement.

And as of 20:30 p.m. Wednesday the Japanese and Thai nationals were still in hospital, according to MOFA.

The two Singaporeans and 13 of the Koreans were in a temporary shelter at a stadium in Hualien. Only one of the 15, a Korean, suffered minor injuries.    [FULL  STORY]

IRREGULAR FACADE: The Marshal Hotel had already undergone reinforcements, but was still unable to withstand a strong quake, an association head said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 08, 2018
By: William Hetherington  /  Staff writer, with CNA

The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering yesterday called for new

laws to encourage the reconstruction of weaker structures, following the partial collapse of four buildings during Tuesday’s earthquake in Hualien.

The magnitude 6 earthquake, which occurred at 11:50pm on Tuesday, 18.3km northeast of Hualien County Hall, had an output level of 7 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity at its strongest point and caused damage to several structures, including two bridges and multiples buildings.

The Marshal Hotel suffered the most damage and was left leaning to one side after its bottom three floors crumpled.    [FULL  STORY]

The root of low wages is inequality, and at the root of inequality lies cronyism and closely held corporate control.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/06
By: Justin Hugo

This is the second in our 5 part series. You can read part 1 here.

Inequality, poverty and corporate cultures

What is the cause of the large differentials in wage levels outlined in part 1? The reason lies in the Gini coefficient or the measure of income inequality. Singapore is the most unequal country among the developed nations – even when you include the United States and the United Kingdom.

Singapore also has the highest Gini coefficient, at 0.38 of the countries we are considering here. Hong Kong has the second-highest at 0.379 (derived from the Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department for comparison on OECD’s scale.)

By contrast, Denmark and Norway are the most equal countries in the world, with Gini coefficients of 0.256 and 0.257, respectively. (Note that the Gini coefficient figures account for taxes and transfers aimed at reducing the inequality – even so, Singapore and Hong Kong still present the largest income inequality.)    [FULL  STORY]

Marshal Hotel among 5 buildings that collapsed after magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan’s Hualien

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien at

11:50 p.m. tonight (Feb. 7) causing dramatic shaking throughout Taiwan, with Hualien suffering the brunt of the quake and at least five major buildings have collapsed, two bridges closed and sections of two highways have been shut off to traffic.

The epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was 18.3 northeast of Hualien County hall at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to Central Weather Bureau (CWB) and was the 94th earthquake since a spate of quakes started on Sunday. As this was the biggest of all 94 earthquakes, the CWB believes this was actually the main quake that the previous tremors were building up to, but only time will tell.

Early reports state that at least five major buildings have collapsed in Hualien City, including the Marshal Hotel (統帥大飯店), the Guosheng 1st Street Building (國盛一街), the Guosheng 6th Street Building (國盛六街), the A-Guan Hotpot Building (前站阿官火鍋大樓), and the Parkview Hotel (美崙飯店), with an unknown number of people reportedly trapped inside. Massive cracks have appeared on paved roads in the area and power has been cut to a large number of households.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/06
By: Tzeng Yi-shiuan and William Yen

Paris, Feb. 6 (CNA) Taiwanese baker Wang Peng-chieh (王鵬傑) won first place in the Artistic Bread Making category at the international Masters de la Boulangerie competition in Paris on Tuesday.

This is the second time a competitor from Taiwan has won first prize at the prestigious event in eight years.

The 2018 Europain was held Feb. 3-6 in Paris-Nord Villepinte, France and included the Masters de la Boulangerie competition which brings together top bakers in the world.

Wu Pao-chun (吳寶春), the first Taiwanese to win the master baker title in 2010, accompanied his students Wang, Chen Yu-chih (陳有鋕) and Hsieh Chung-yu (謝忠祐), who entered the artistic bread making, gourmet baking and nutritional bread making categories, respectively.    [FULL  STORY]