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
A rescue worker looks at a broken pillar at a collapsed building in Hualien yesterday after Tuesday’s magnitude 6.0 earthquake. Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
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]
