Prosecutors find 50% cutback in concrete beam stirrups

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-10
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Tainan District Prosecutors Office revealed its suspicion of shoddy construction practices undertaken to build the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex that collapsed in the wake of an earthquake in southern Taiwan last Saturday, killing 39 people, reports said Wednesday.

Questions have been raised about the building’s construction quality, especially the materials used to build it, prompting prosecutors to launch a probe into the collapse.

Prosecutors disclosed to reporters in the morning that the blueprints they found led them to believe 50 percent of the concrete beam stirrups were skimmed on the construction of Weiguan’s supporting columns.

Stirrups are usually rectangular, and are placed at regular intervals along a column or beam to prevent shear failure.     [FULL  STORY]