THREAT LEVELS:In the aftermath of last Saturday’s magnitude 6.4 earthquake, city governments have sent engineers and architects to rate the safety of buildings

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 14, 2016
By: Huang Hsin-po and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Following the casualties suffered in Tainan during last Saturday’s earthquake, the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency yesterday provided the Executive Yuan with the latest data on potentially dangerous buildings throughout the city.

The municipality was the hardest hit by the magnitude 6.4 earthquake, of which the epicenter was in Kaohsiung’s Meinong Township (美濃). One hundred and fourteen bodies have been found in a collapsed Tainan building complex.

The municipality has mobilized a team of engineers and architects to survey the city and tag potentially dangerous buildings, marking at least 340 buildings at risk in the event of another earthquake.

Of these 340, only 319 have been completely surveyed, with 48 found to be highly threatened buildings and 45 threatened buildings.

The Kaohsiung City Government also designated two engineers to determine its threat level in the event of an earthquake, with only 14 at-risk buildings reported.     [FULL  STORY]