Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/06
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Christie Chen

Chern Jenn-chuan, a former president of the Chinese Institute of Engineers.
Taipei, March 6 (CNA) The Taiwanese government has failed to learn a lesson from a devastating earthquake that hit Taiwan in 1999, and has allowed poorly constructed buildings to continue to exist in Taiwan, an expert said Sunday, calling on the authorities to make drastic changes to prevent further quake disasters.

The Weiguan Jinlong residential complex should not have collapsed in southern Taiwan’s Tainan in the magnitude 6.4 earthquake earlier this year, Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川), the former president of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, said at the opening of a forum to discuss the quake resistance capacity of Taiwanese buildings.

He accused the government of shirking its responsibility.

After the Sept. 21 earthquake of 1999, scholars discovered that buildings used for both commercial and residential purposes and that are located on street corners are the most vulnerable to collapse in such disasters, Chern said.     [FULL  STORY]