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MONDO EARTHQUAKE
(MT) Sunday, October 10, 1999, 11:39 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Saturday's SEVEN MORE noteworthy aftershocks, as reported by the10/10/99 edition of the Taipei Times: southern Nantou County, 1:29 AM, 4.7; Yunlin County, 3:29 AM, 4.1; northern Nantou County, 8:21 AM, 4.5; near the border of northeastern Nantou County and northwestern Hualien County, 8:48 AM, 4.7; central Nantou County, 11:48 AM, 4.2; central Nantou County, 11:58 AM, 4.9; near the border of northwestern Nantou County and Taichung County, 2:57 PM, 4.8. The 10/10/99 edition of the China Post says that "as of Saturday evening, eight quakes with magnitudes between 4.1 and 4.9 on the Richter scale were recorded."
Typhoon Dan blew past the island of Kinmen downing 70 percent of its power lines before moving onto the mainland. The weather system added to the problems of landslides in earthquake disaster areas. There are reported to be at least 122 "landslide sites" with an average of about 100 landslides a day occurring over the past several days.
The headline on the 10/10/99 edition of the Taipei Times reads "Quake victims clash with police" while the same day's Taiwan News headline says "Earthquake victims stage peaceful demonstrations." The victims from Taichung, Chiayi, and Yunlin Counties had gathered in front of the Presidential Palace in Taipei to demand better management of the crisis and constructive action.
What was normally Taiwan's "National Day, " also known as "Double Ten(th) Day," passed with little fanfare. Well, Lee Teng-hui did toot his own horn a bit in his "National Day Message." He said (as quoted in the 10/10 China Post), "...since the ... earthquake ... the government ... [has] shown their best capabilities and devoted their utmost efforts to the relief and rescue work." As I'm fond of doing, I'd suggest some changes in that sentence in order to reflect the reality of the situation more accurately. "[R]elief and rescue work" should be changed to "propaganda and future presidential campaign work." The rest of the speech amounted to a pep talk/cover-up/call-for-independence/whiff-of-stinky-tofu combination.
(MT) Saturday, October 9, 1999, 8:33 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Friday's SEVEN aftershocks, as reported by the10/9/99 edition of the Taipei Times: Miaoli County, 0:34 (12:34) AM, 4.9; Hualien County, 2:28 AM, 5.1; western Nantou County, 7:51 AM, 4.4; northern Hualien County, 9:51 AM, 4.5; southern Nantou County, 10:48 AM, 4.9; northern Hualien County, 8:21 PM, 4.3; northern Hualien County, 8:24 PM, 4.2. The Taiwan News reported them as "seven earthquakes ... including two aftershocks." The same article also said that there have been more than 11,712 aftershocks since the 9/21 quake.
The Taipei Times also printed an article regarding "soft stories"--levels that have "substantially less resistance, or stiffness, than the stories above or below [them]." These exist typically on the ground floors of buildings in Taiwan, where "the shear walls--designed to hold the adjacent columns in place and to absorb the horizontal motion stress of the tremors--are replaced by huge plate-glass shop windows." This resulted in in "many buildings still intact but keeled over at extraordinary angles." The remarkable fact that a number of toppled buildings just happened to be 12 stories high is attributed to the building code which says that buildings under 50 meters (~166 feet) in height don't have to go to a special engineering committee to be approved.
More clues to the political leanings of Taiwan's English-language newspapers were revealed today. An article in the 10/9/99 edition of the China Post quotes New Party presidential candidate Li Ao's criticism of the execution of Chen Chin-hsing, calling it "a scheme cooked up by the ruling party to divert attention from the reconstruction efforts" and pointing out that it was "suddenly green-lighted" and scheduled for 9 PM "for prime time consumption." I said nearly the same thing in my report of 10/8/99!
Saturday, October 9, 1999, 2:19 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - An earthquake measuring 5.0 hit near the northern Taiwan city of Hsinchu at 1:34 AM Thursday (10/7), according to the 10/8 edition of the Taipei Times. When will they stop?
The Taichung District Prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Canada-based Chang Ming-chen, the builder of Tali City's "Golden Paris Mansion"--the building where 6-year old Chang Ching-hung was trapped for 87 or so hours and at least 79 people were killed. Chang Ming-chen emigrated to Canada in July, and said he does not intend to return to Taiwan to answer questions regarding the building's collapse, according to the 10/8 edition of the Taiwan News. In response, the prosecutor has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to revoke the builder's passport and inform Canadian authorities that Chang is wanted for involvement in a criminal case in Taiwan. I say these prosecutors are only coming down hard now so as to cover their own guilty asses! Too bad the buildings didn't fall on them.
Typhoon Dan has made a sharp turn northward into the Taiwan Strait bringing with it fears of torrential rains and potential landslides.
(MT) Friday, October 8, 1999, 1:02 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - Wednesday's aftershocks, as reported by the 10/7/99 edition of the Taipei Times: northern Nantou County, 11:45 AM, 4.9; near the border of eastern Taichung County and northeastern Nantou County, 12:09 AM (sic), 4.8.
Despite the emergency decree banning price gouging after the earthquake, DRAM chips in Taipei's Kuanghua market which a couple of weeks ago were selling for NT$3,000 are now being sold for NT$10,000, according to the 10/7/99 edition of the Taipei Times. Oh--I guess big industry is exempt from these laws like they were from the power rationing!
The Taiwan News, which recently published some disgusting propaganda regarding Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, has suddenly become my least favorite newspaper. In the 10/7/99 edition, the cover story, "What facts made buildings weak?," (which you can read in its entirety here) disputes the role that vegetable oil cans used as filler in place of concrete had in the collapse of several buildings in the 9/21 earthquake. The article points to various "other less-obvious forms of corner-cutting" and repeats at least 3 times (as if it's okay, even though it's still "illegal and potentially dangerous") that the cans were found in "pillars and other decorative objects that do not bear weight."
Although it is mere speculation on my part, I'd venture a guess that the timing of the execution of Chen Chin-hsing and the earthquake are not entirely unrelated. The execution order was only signed the day the sentence was carried out, leading me to believe that it may have been done this way to distract public attention from the relief efforts. While both the China Post and the Taipei Times had big headlines regarding the execution, the Taiwan News gave it a small story at the bottom of page 2. I believe there is a lie in the Taiwan News article as well. It says that Chen and the other kidnappers of Pai Hsiao-yen "aborted a meeting with her mother when they found she had notified police." I believe it was, in fact, the media who followed the mother to the ransom dropoff location and scared the kidnappers off.
I'll have to do more research into the political affiliations of these papers, but so far, I'd guess that the Taiwan News has KMT (ruling party) affiliations, while the China Post and perhaps the Taipei Times have DPP (opposition party) connections. In an editorial on 10/7/99, the Taipei Times says, "With last night's executions the government saved itself embarrassment while displaying a chilling contempt for justice and due process." Whaddaya think?
(MT) Thursday, October 7, 1999, 12:16 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - Tuesday's aftershocks, as reported by the 10/6/99 edition of the Taipei Times: northern Nantou County, 4:26 AM, 4.5; Taitung County, 9:13 AM, 4.7; central Nantou County, 8:18 PM, 5.2.
Tonight's TV news focused not on the earthquake, but rather on the execution by firing squad of notorious kidnapper/murderer/rapist Chen Chin-hsing which took place shortly after 9:30 PM Wednesday. He and 2 accomplices terrorized Taiwan and escaped capture by police for several months following the kidnapping and murder of 17-year old Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of celebrity Pai Ping-ping. The validity of the law being used in the sentencing is being heavily disputed. As I began writing this, TVBS News was showing live footage of doctors removing Chen's organs, which he had donated for transplantation.
President Lee Teng-hui held a press conference Tuesday for the first time since the 9/21 earthquake in which he defended the Taiwan government's response to the disaster, saying it was three times faster than Japan's response to the deadly 7.2 quake of 1995 in Kobe. According to the 10/6/99 edition of the Taiwan News, Lee avoided answering leading questions by the media about "China's attempts to assert sovreignty over Taiwan in the aftermath of the quake." He also didn't comment on whether the reconstruction effort will do anything to affect the length of his presidential term which is due to end in May, 2000.
Several "landslide dams" have formed as a result of the 9/21 earthquake, creating new lakes and "present[ing] a continued threat of flooding, and landslides to those that reside in their vicinity," according to an article in the 10/6/99 edition of the Taipei Times. The situation is being closely monitored, and in some places, the water in these lakes is rising a meter a day. However, a firm decision on how to handle these new lakes--whether to drain them, channel them into other existing resevoirs, or manage them as new resevoirs--has yet to be made.
(MT) Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 1:30 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - Monday's aftershocks, as reported by the 10/5/99 edition of the Taipei Times: southern Nantou County, 5:13 AM, 4.7; Taitung County, 7:43 AM, 4.8; northern Nantou County, 6:00 PM, 4.9.
A missing group of climbers from Taipei's Flying Eagle Mountaineering Club were found buried under a rockslide in their bus on the Central Cross-Island Highway. There were 15 people in the vehicle. According to the Taiwan News, the bus was discovered "after heavy rain had washed away some of the mud covering it." Read the entire article here.
In a propagandistic article worthy of Beijing's Xinhua ("newspeak?") News Agency, the 10/5/99 edition of the Taiwan News printed this bullshit--which I will quote in its entirety--about Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-Jeou in its "In Brief" section. "Ma Visits Taichung - Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou finished his one and a half day visit to the earthquake-stricken Taichung County yesterday morning. He slept in a tent and used the mobile toilets. He saw the misery of the victims and learned a great lesson in disaster relief and prevention. Ma intentionally rejected the offer of local governments for room and board where he could take hot tub baths. He preferred to sleep and eat with the victims and experience the hardship they are going through." Fèi huà ! ! !
(MT) Tuesday, October 5, 1999, 1:25 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - Tropical storm Dan, off the southeastern coast of the island and moving westward into the Bashi Channel early Monday, brought heavy rain to parts of central and northern Taiwan over the weekend. Forecasts are calling for rain to fall on most of the island at least through Friday. This is expected to make living conditions for the quake refugees even more difficult.
Three forest rangers and two of their family members who had been trapped on Hsishih Mountain for over 12 days were rescued Sunday. In the first days after the quake, the nine strongest members of the group set out on foot to seek help. It took them three days to reach the flatlands and inform rescuers about their companions still in the mountains. Two earlier rescue attempts had failed due to weather conditions, but supplies had been airdropped to them in the days before their rescue. Rescuers finally reached them around 8:30 Sunday morning and were able to get them out.
According to the 10/4/99 edition of the Taiwan News, schools in Taichung and Nantou Counties re-opened Monday. Extracting clear details from the various reports on this was rather difficult, but it appears that students will be attending classes on a rotating schedule with extended hours, some at different schools. Many schools in these 2 counties suffered severe damage in the 9/21 earthquake, and I'm told it will be some time before schools in Tungshih resume classes. Temporary classrooms are still being built to make up for some of those losses.
(MT) Monday, October 4, 1999, 12:31 AM, Taichung, Taiwan - I have recently discovered some interesting things about Taiwan's TV news stations. The 3 non-cable stations, I'm told, are all owned by the KMT (Kuomintang, the ruling party) while TVBS and Formosa TV are owned by the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party, the opposition party). This would explain the recent spat between TVBS and Taiwan's president Lee Teng-hui who was reported to have recently said, "Don't watch TVBS!" in light of news coverage which has been critical of the government's slow response to the earthquake.
During a ride through different parts of Taichung City Sunday afternoon, I was surprised at the number of tents still erected in nearly every park or playground I saw. Although I could see no external signs of imminent building collapse in the area, I have no idea what the interiors of these people's homes look like. According to the 10/3/99 edition of the Taipei Times, compensation that will be paid by the central government to residents "whose homes suffered severe damage" in the 9/21 quake are as follows: NT$200,000 (~US$6,300) for a total loss; NT$100,000 (~US$3,150) for a partially collapsed structure; NT$3,000 (~US$95) per person per month in rent subsidies for residents of houses listed as a total loss.
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