Taiwan Earthquake: How to reduce losses in the past 20 years
Hualien strong shock directly hit the collapse.Every family is in it
When a disaster occurs, especially when a large earthquake occurs, the media around the world will be attracted to the most serious place like flies.This is understandable.But this concern will make everything that happens to the public.
This can be seen in Hualien City.The photography team crowded around a 10 -story building. The tilt of the building was scared and looked weird and horrible.But this is just one of the few structural damaged buildings in this tens of thousands of people.
Hualien's streets look completely normal outside of the warning line.The shops and cafes are open, and the cars are mooring.Drive through this city. If you never know that a big earthquake happened a few days ago, you will not notice what abnormalities are.
The basis of this city's basically safe and sound, immediately triggers people's discussions on the cause of the earthquake.
Just a year ago, we saw that Turkey and Syria also had a magnitude of the earthquake, causing more than 50,000 people to die.Of course, these countries are much less resources.However, in 2011, a small magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand, and almost the entire city center was razed to the ground.
The strongest Rui's 7.2 earthquake in 25 years in Taiwan in TaiwanThere are earthquakes in Taiwan, and there are continuous sense of earthquakes
Taiwan is on the fault, and it has made significant progress in dealing with the earthquake.Many people believe that the Taiwan Collection Earthquake (September 21 Nantou Earthquake) in 1999 sounded the alarm. This was the worst earthquake in Taiwan's history, causing more than 2,400 people to die, and tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed.
I witnessed the consequences of the disaster.In the central Nantou County, many apartment buildings were shocked.The most shocking is that many of them are newly built.
I remember that there was a 20 -storey building of the building broken and lying on one side, almost intact.
This catastrophic destruction has caused people's anger and reflection, why so many new buildings collapse.Experts say that the design of these buildings has fundamental defects.The foundation pillars are not large enough, and the amount of steel is too small.
Their discovery was not completely surprising: When I lived in Taipei in the 1990s, the scandal of the construction industry had repeatedly occurred.
The loss of life caused by earthquakes in 1999 triggered strong public protests and required more powerful action.
A building that I lived in during my student days was exposed by concrete made of sea sand, so it was condemned.Hais and sand are much cheaper than river sand, but the salt content is much higher.This will corrode the reinforcement, leading to concrete cancer.Even medium -intensity earthquakes may cause the building to collapse.Another investigation by Mayor of Taipei found that the old oil tank was placed in a concrete pillar of a new building.
Construction companies are accused of using this trick to save concrete and increase profits.
Since then, the situation has changed a lot.After the set earthquake, the architectural specifications have changed.
Now all new buildings must reach the basic seismic level, which means that they can withstand a certain degree of shaking without major structural failures.
The government is also constantly revising the requirements for earthquake resistance of buildings -find out those buildings that need to be upgraded.After 1999, the government carried out a comprehensive earthquake -resistant transformation -usually included reinforcement measures such as adding steel beam frameworks outside the building or increasing additional pillars.This also applies to infrastructure such as bridges.
Professor Wu Yimin of National Taiwan University has worked in the disaster relief and disaster prevention departments for decades. He said: "Taiwan has frequently suffered a dangerous earthquake attack, and most of the inferior buildings have disappeared."
The corrupt construction behavior will also be prosecuted.In 2016, an earthquake occurred in the southwest of Taiwan Island, and a 17 -story high -rise building collapsed, causing dozens of people to die.Five people involved were sued and imprisoned.
In this earthquake, only a dozen deaths reported so far, only a tragedy was caused by the collapse of the building, that is, the 10 -storey building I mentioned earlier.Others are related to landslides and falling rocks.
Image source, EPA
Acting personally guides a mother and two children to the medical tent.
This also illustrates another main reason for Taiwan's limited disaster.Luck play a role.
The earthquake on Wednesday started from offshore, and then attacked the south of Hualien, the nearest main population center.
Earthquake map shows that the epicenter is located 30 kilometers south of Hualien City, so Hualien and its surrounding areas have not been severely shocked.
On the contrary, the earthquake occurred in mountainous areas in the south, west, and north, causing huge rocks to slide, destroying roads and bridges, and unfortunately killed personnel.
The earthquake that occurred on Wednesday was in sharp contrast to the Nantou earthquake in 1999, the Turkish and the Syrian earthquake last year, and the earthquake at that time was very close to the densely populated area.
Despite this, the power of a magnitude 7.4 earthquake is still incredible, not only shocked the island of Taiwan, but also shocked other places outside the island.
Fortunately, this time Taiwan is ready.
Taiwan's response to earthquake:
Early warning system: The sensors all over the island can capture the first wave of shocks of the earthquake, and send mobile phones and TV alarms near the earthquake 2-8 seconds before 2-8 seconds.But there are still defects in the system -some Taipei residents have no alarm.
Public consciousness: Taiwanese think about the earthquake practice and know what to do. After 1999, schools and workplaces were forcibly requested to perform earthquake exercises.
Fast response: The disaster relief team on the island actively tracks social media and can determine to provide assistance to what locations can be provided by monitoring the loss of the camera.
