Mondo Taiwan - 10/11-10/17/99 - MONDO EARTHQUAKE

<BGSOUND SRC="images/Koyaanisqatsi.mid"> MONDO EARTHQUAKE

(MT) Sunday, October 17, 1999, 1:57 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - The10/17/99 edition of the Taipei Times confirms the times of Saturday 10/16's aftershocks reported by the Central Weather Bureau's website, which also shows one aftershock already today (Sunday): 2:18 AM, southern Nantou County, 12 km north-northwest of Yushan (Jade Mountain), 4.4.

On the cover of today's newspapers is the 7.0 earthquake which struck southern California 32 miles (51 km) north of Joshua Tree and about 100 miles (160 km) east of Los Angeles at 2:46 AM Pacific time (4:46 PM Taiwan local time). Although it shook things strongly, no major damage was reported. Four people were said to be injured when an Amtrak train derailed. It had been traveling at 60 mph instead of its usual 80 mph because it was behind a freight train. There were several aftershocks during the night, each smaller than the first quake, which was felt at least as far away as Yuma, Arizona.

The reports of the Taipei Times and the Taiwan News are a little more similar today than they were yesterday, though there are still some differences. The first paper has an article titled "Building rules must be enforced, say engineers," (read it here) placing the blame squarely on the government, while the latter, in an article titled "Academics urge stricter construction codes" (read it here under a different title) puts the blame on lower level government officials--specifically, Tsay Jaw-yang, the public construction commissioner, for being "lax in enforcing governmental building regulations in an attempt to liberalize the construction industry"--in what looks like an attempt to take the focus of blame off of high-level officials such as Premier Vincent Siew. Actually, in this article, everyone passes the buck.

More temporary homes are going up in areas such as Taichung County's Tungshih Township. (See photos of Tungshih the day of the quake here) The 10/17 Taiwan News headline read "New homes springing up--'better than a tent'" "Springing up" would seem to indicate some degree of speed, but it seems more like things are "trudging along" for many of the victims. While the Tzu Chi Buddhist Compassion Relief Foundation completed the construction of 100 temporary shelters in Puli almost a week ago, it has taken 27 days for the government to get 32 "pre-fab" shelters up in Miaoli and another 43 in Tungshih. Vincent Siew also touts the fact that the new community in Tungshih has a convenience store. "There is even a 7-11," he remarked. "This is good for residents, because they can buy whatever they need" [ed.: at high prices that are legal despite the emergency decree]. Read the entire Taipei Times article about this here or the Taiwan News article here

"Better than a tent" was the best quote the Taiwan News could seem to come up with. Wonder why? Some people have opted for another choice provided to them by the government--NT$3,000 per person per month in rent subsidy--because they can in many cases find private housing for a family of four for about NT$10,000 ($US315) per month. Besides the temporary shelters and rent subsidies, victims have one other option provided to them by the government--they can purchase a government housing unit at 30% off the market price. That's no real choice to someone who lost everything they owned and maybe their job, too.

Despite firm promises made by the government that all disbursement of earthquake relief funds would be handled by Saturday, 10/16/99, it didn't happen. (Gee. Whooda thunkit?) On the other hand, while more than 500 people in Fengyuan had applied for aid under a "jobs in exchange for relief" program, no one collected these work subsidies. Read the entire Taipei Times article about this here.
(MT) Saturday, October 16, 1999, 11:20 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - The10/16/99 edition of the Taipei Times again reports no significant aftershocks for Friday. However, the Central Weather Bureau's website shows two aftershocks today (Saturday): one at 2:48 (AM?), 33.1 km west of Hualien, 4.7; 8:32 PM, 29 km west of Hualien, 4.9.

One of the most interesting things in the news of 10/16/99 is the disparity between the reports of the Taipei Times and the Taiwan News. While the former (reported by someone with a Chinese name) writes about the corruption in local assemblies and how it lead to a lot of the damage caused by the quake, a foreign writer in the latter paper talks of the praises of Taiwan's structural safety by the leader of the British Earthquake Investigation Team. Note the following differences. The Taipei Times article points out that "among the damaged or collapsed structures ..., many were public buildings ... [which] must be constructed according to safety guidelines that are one and a half times more stringent than private buildings." The reason, according to a police investigation, is that "local assemblymen, many with backgrounds in locally-based organized crime groups, are heavily involved in public construction projects." The Taiwan News article, on the other hand, talks about "ingenious" engineering solutions in the aftermath of the earthquake, such as "in the case of a bridge collapse, where engineers used shipping containers as a short-term fix to fill in an embankment and create a detour for the bridge." To me, this sounds like the same sort of dangerous thinking that led "engineers" to fill space in construction materials with vegetable oil cans! (Read the entire Taiwan News article here.)
(MT) Friday, October 15, 1999, 11:41 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - The10/15/99 edition of the Taipei Times reports no significant aftershocks Thursday. WHEW!

The Central Weather Bureau expects a cold front to arrive Friday night, potentially causing temperatures across Taiwan to drop more than 10°C. They expect the cool weather to continue for about a week, and although the chances of rain in Central Taiwan are low, they advised quake victims to stay in prefabricated shelters if possible. At the time I'm writing this, the thermometer outside my window shows 25°C (77°F), only about 3 or 4°C less than normal for this time of night.

Families of foreign nationals who died in the 9/21 earthquake are eligible to receive NT$1,000,000 (US$31,475) in "consolation money" from the government. Five Filipinos and eight Thai nationals were said to have been killed in the quake. Those who sustained serious injuries can apply for NT$200,000 (US$6,295) from the government. Whoop de doo! "Lose a leg? Get a check!"
(MT) Thursday, October 14, 1999, 11:32 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Wednesday's big temblor, as reported by the10/14/99 edition of the Taipei Times: northwestern Hualien County, 9:39 AM, 5.3. The same paper also said that it did not cause any injuries or deaths. The Taiwan News says that "[a]ccording to the Seismology Center, yesterday's quake, like a number of others, was not an aftershocks [sic] of the September 21 earthquake but the normal release of underground pressure." The 10/14 China Post said it "could be felt in most areas north of Tainan County."

The 10/14 Taiwan News reports that Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh resigned yesterday (10/13/99) from the government's Earthquake Reconstruction Foundation, citing "overlapping duties" as well as "conflict of duties." (Read the entire article here.) Before joining the quake relief organization, Lee founded 2 organizations, at least one of which was "to monitor the distribution of donations by government organizations and charities." Lee is Taiwan's only Nobel laureate, and the article refers to the Academia Sinica as "Taiwan's top research institution." The Taipei Times reported this story in its "Quick Take" column on page 4 (read it here) while it was a cover story in the Taiwan News. People tell me I think too much, but I think that they don't think enough.

The 10/14 China Post reports a couple of interesting factoids. In its headline story, Lee reiterates compensation pledge, but doubts remain, they say, "Lee Teng-hui assured the public that building assessment would be completed by Friday and all funds issued by Saturday." The writer didn't sound too convinced. In its In Brief column, it says, "People in quake-affected areas have been taking portable toilets from public areas and putting them in their own homes" and even asking the EPA to clean them! An EPA spokesman said that "it was a theft punishable by a prison term of up to seven years" and "stressed that the portable toilets were meant for the homeless survivors of the quake."

It also says in the 10/14 China Post that the threat of "disastrous flooding" has forced the evacuation of four villages near the Nantou-Yunlin County line. The villages of Tashih and Nankang (in Kuohsing Township) and Tsaoling and Changhu (in Kuken Township) are all downstream from 3 new lakes that have formed as a result of landslides caused by the 9/21 earthquake. The water levels in the lakes is said to be rising 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) per day, causing the risk of collapse and subsequent flooding to be "quite high." The Council of Agriculture ordered the evacuation at the advice of engineers and geologists whe have been conducting inspections of the area over the past two days. Workers were adding water channels to alleviate the pressure from at least one of the new lakes.
(MT) Wednesday, October 13, 1999, 11:34 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Tuesday's 3 noteworthy aftershocks, as reported by the10/13/99 edition of the Taipei Times: near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 3:10 AM, 4.7; Miaoli County, 7:56 PM, 4.5; eastern Taichung County, 12:17 PM (I think they mean after midnight, but even the Central Weather Bureau's info is unclear), 4.7.

The Taipei Times has gone online with a "beta" version of their website with info dating back to August 31, 1999. Many of their articles, editorials, and images referred to on the Mondo Taiwan website can be accessed there. As you can see by my "correction" of their aftershock update above, I am in no way endorsing the information printed therein.

According to the 10/13 edition of the Taipei Times, the Tzu Chi Buddhist Compassion Relief Foundation has finished building 100 temporary homes for refugees in Puli on what used to be a sugar cane field. Each "apartment" measures 12 pings, or about 40 square meters--nearly 3 times the size of my apartment. Designs call for a "park" to be included for every 20 residences. See photos of the construction here.
(MT) Tuesday, October 12, 1999, 11:15 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Monday's only noteworthy aftershock, as reported by the10/12/99 edition of the Taipei Times: near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 12:00 AM, 4.5.

The 10/12 Taiwan News reports some rather surreal findings revealed by the Council of Agriculture's study of satellite photographs. While Taiwan's geographical center is said to have shifted by 2.5 meters (over 8 feet), Taichung County's Tunghshih Township is said to have moved northwest an incredible 8.5 meters (about 28 feet). Hoping Township--also in Taichung County--moved 5.5 meters (18 feet) northwest, and Nantou County's Tahu Mountain was said to have moved 5 meters (16.5 feet) in the same direction.

An article in the 10/12 Taipei Times mentions that the 7.6 quake of 9/21 was only felt as a 4.0 in Taipei City and County where 2 large buildings collapsed. (Quoting a reference by Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh, the 10/12 China Post refers to it as registering 4.3 in Taipei.) So far, 108 builders and architects have either "been arrested or are under investigation on counts of manslaughter or endangering public safety." It goes on to say, "The report includes 12 people arrested, 40 released on bail and 56 restricted from leaving the country." Where does that leave Chang Ming-cheng--the builder of the Golden Paris complex who emigrated to Canada in July?

President Lee Teng-hui and Vice President Lien Chan were shown on the covers of 2 of 10/12's English papers crying their well-choreographed tears at a memorial service for the quake victims. (The story was on the cover of the Taiwan News, but the picture was left out.) An editorial in the 10/12 Taipei Times lays into the government summarily for its horrible treatment of the victims this past week: revoking their permit to protest in front of the Presidential Palace; confronting them with riot police; lying to them about not having the phone number of someone they wanted to see; sending a "low-ranking functionary to meet [them]"; etc.
(MT) Monday, October 11, 1999, 3:22 PM, Taichung, Taiwan - Sunday's noteworthy aftershocks, as reported by the10/11/99 edition of the Taipei Times: southwestern Nantou County, 6:45 AM, 4.1; near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 7:39 PM, 4.6.

An article in the 10/11 edition of the Taiwan News reports on some of the psychological effects of the earthquake. A survey conducted from 10/4 - 10/8 via telephone by Academia Sinica says that "interviewees are still suffering psychological trauma ... two weeks after the quake." It shows that 57.8% "could not get rid of that rocking feeling;" 21.7% "suffer insomnia and nightmares;" and that 33.2% "will change their life style to achieve something more meaningful."

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