Taiwan earthquake: Island shook but did not bend as largest earthquake in 25 years highlights preparedness, lessons learned

Hualien, Taiwan CNN –

Wu was preparing breakfast for guests at the small hotel he runs in Taiwan's Hualien County when the shelves around him shook violently and the mountain behind his house roared.

Fearing that the building would collapse, he rushed his guests to a safe place in the open air. On the other side of the river, steep slopes cascaded down from the mountains, clouds of dust swallowing up the air.

But Wu's home suffered little damage from Wednesday's 7.4-magnitude quake, the strongest in Taiwan in 25 years, which he attributes to a broader campaign to make the island more earthquake-resistant.

“Our government conducted a comprehensive review of building codes after the 1999 earthquake, and all buildings to be constructed must use new technologies that will make them more resilient to earthquakes,” he says.

Fifteen years ago, when he started construction on his two-storey guest house near the entrance to Taroko Gorge – a national park famous for its steep, marble-walled canyons – Wu had to get government approval for its earthquake preparedness.

Experts say such changes have helped the earthquake-prone island avoid large numbers of casualties in quakes like the one that struck on Wednesday.

“I feel very lucky,” Wu says of the low-level damage caused by the devastating quake. “It's not too bad.”

Rescue efforts continue in Taiwan after the devastating earthquake

It's a similar story in the city of Hualien, just 11 miles from the epicenter, which appears remarkably quiet the day after the quake.

Shops and restaurants have reopened, as have roadside stalls selling fruit, vegetables and snacks. Trains bound for the city, which were suspended as a precaution on Wednesday, resumed operation on schedule.

The strongest sign of the quake is a 10-story red brick tower in the city center, leaning precariously at a 45-degree angle after the ground floor collapsed. Excavators piled rubble into the base of the Uranus Building to support it.

Emergency workers began repairing dozens of damaged buildings and demolished four deemed impossible to save. But for the most part, the city of 100,000 people on Taiwan's eastern coast escaped unscathed.

This does not mean underestimating the strength of the earthquake. Seismologists in Taiwan describe the earthquake's strength as equivalent to the energy of 32 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The earthquake shook the entire island of Taiwan and was felt as far away as Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Zhong, a 52-year-old housekeeper, said she has experienced many earthquakes in Hualien. She added: “But the size of this earthquake was very frightening.” “I have never experienced an earthquake of this size in the 50 years I have lived here in Hualien.”

Wednesday's quake shook more parts of Taiwan with greater force than any other quake since 1999, when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck the center of the island, killing 2,400 people and injuring 10,000 others.

But this time the number of victims is much lower. As of Thursday, 10 people had been killed and just over 1,000 others injured, while 24 people remained missing, according to authorities.

“It's a pretty miraculous result,” said Daniel Aldrich, a professor of political science and public policy at Northeastern University who studies the resilience of cities, describing the toll as “a very low number of deaths from a strong, powerful earthquake near an urban area.” center.”

“Other disasters with a magnitude of 7.5 have caused much greater human losses than what we have seen so far in Taiwan,” he added, citing tens of thousands of deaths during previous earthquakes in Haiti, India and China.

Wednesday's earthquake struck Taiwan's rural east coast. The west of the island is where most people live, and is home to the largest cities, an extensive high-speed rail network and many industrial areas.

Most of the destruction – and deaths – occurred in remote rural areas of Hualien County.

Most of the victims died outdoors due to falling rocks or landslides. Four of them were hiking in the Taroko Gorge, four died on mountain highways, and another was working in a remote quarry, according to authorities.

So far, only one person has been killed in a building collapse – the Uranus Building in downtown Hualien. She initially ran away but returned to rescue her pet cat, CNN affiliate SET reported.

Taiwan's latest efforts to prepare stem from hard lessons learned from the devastating earthquake 25 years ago, experts say.

When the earthquake struck in 1999, Taiwan was woefully unprepared, Aldrich said, citing corruption in the construction industry, a lack of building regulations, and inadequate coordination in rescue efforts.

This earthquake led to the complete or partial collapse of more than 100,000 buildings across Taiwan, including nearly 300 schools. Buildings were also flattened in the capital, Taipei, about 100 miles from the epicenter.

“What we've seen since then is tremendous improvements across the board, what I would call a top-down, bottom-up set of responses,” Aldrich said.

From top to bottom, the government strengthened disaster management laws, improved coordination in rescue and relief operations, and imposed stricter earthquake-resistant building codes.

“They have issued huge fines and penalties to builders who have been found to have in any way cut back on their construction aspects. There has been really serious investment in all the new buildings,” Aldrich said.

The government launched a campaign to evaluate, modernize or rebuild public buildings to enhance their ability to withstand strong earthquakes, with priority given to schools. The campaign has since expanded to private buildings, such as Wu's.

September 21 – the date of the deadly 1999 earthquake – has become a designated day for disaster drills in Taiwan, with fake alert messages being sent to mobile phones across the island and schools organizing evacuation drills.

Hualien Mayor Wei Chia Yen attributes the relatively low death toll in his city to advanced preparations.

“Here in Hualien, we grew up with earthquakes,” he said inside a gymnasium-turned-shelter at an elementary school that was set up within hours of the quake.

Rows of tents were set up for residents whose homes were damaged, or who feared returning due to aftershocks, while boxes of food and drinks were distributed on tables.

Wei himself was injured by a falling cabinet on his left leg and was using crutches to get around the shelter.

“Our teachers and relatives have always taught us how to react when earthquakes happen,” he said. “So we've known about this since we were kids.”

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