How Taiwan Prepares For Earthquakes: Taiwan shares a long history with its neighbor, Japan, of experiencing devastating earthquakes. Taiwan is located on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of active seismic activity along the Pacific Rim.
Taipei, Taiwan: Nine people were killed and numerous buildings were damaged by the biggest earthquake to strike Taiwan in 25 years, but the damage was mostly controlled because of decades of preparation work.
Taiwan shares a long history with its neighbor, Japan, of experiencing devastating earthquakes. Taiwan is located on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of active seismic activity along the Pacific Rim.
How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes?
Taiwan was affected by Wednesday’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake. It was the worst since 1999’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which was one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the island and claimed 2,400 lives.
However, compared to what occurred in several other regions of the world last year, the extent of the devastation was significantly smaller.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on February 6, 2023, left almost 53,000 people dead in Turkey and around 6,000 dead in Syria. There were around 39,000 destroyed buildings.
Then in September, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Morocco caused damage to almost 60,000 dwellings in addition to 3,000 fatalities.
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake that occurred in October of last year severely damaged 40,000 buildings and claimed the lives of almost 1,200 people in the Herat province of Afghanistan.
The building laws and the degree to which they are implemented are considered to be among the most significant variables by specialists. The primary risk to human life during an earthquake is thought to be collapsing structures.
According to the US Geological Survey, “there have been large earthquakes with very little damage because they caused little shaking and/or buildings were built to withstand that shaking,”
“In other cases, smaller earthquakes have caused great shaking and/or buildings collapsed that were never designed or built to survive shaking.”
What has Taiwan done to guard its buildings against quakes?
For many years, Taiwan has incorporated seismic criteria into its construction regulations, amending and updating them in response to significant earthquakes that have occurred both on the island and in other parts of the world.
Then followed the 1999 earthquake, which, according to Taiwan’s National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE), seriously damaged and destroyed about 51,000 buildings.
Since then, Taiwan has improved and updated its building code to include techniques for earthquake-resistant construction, like steel bars that make a building more able to wobble in the event of a ground tremor.
Prior to the 1999 earthquake, some significant structures were already constructed with seismic safety features.
A 660-metric-ton damper counteracts swaying in the Taipei 101 skyscraper, which was once the tallest structure in the world before construction started a few months ago.
By 2022, there were over 1,000 buildings in Taiwan with seismic elements like dampening, up from about 80 in 2009, according to the NCREE.
What about older buildings?
Additionally, the government mandates that buildings constructed prior to the implementation of the new regulations be reinforced.
During earthquakes, these older buildings are frequently the primary source of worry. As late as 2018, grievances were raised regarding insufficient funds to strengthen these kinds of institutions.
When Tsai Ing-wen was elected president in 2016, she made a commitment to put building safety first, especially for older buildings.
In addition, the NCREE stated in 2022 that structures lacking sturdy ground floors, such as those featuring open spaces and public places, should be evaluated and strengthened right away. The body claims that these structures are frequently referred to as “soft-legged shrimps” in Chinese.
What has it done apart from building regulations?
Taiwan, well-known for its innovative IT companies, has developed a sophisticated early warning system that can quickly notify the public of potentially dangerous ground tremors.
Over time, the system has been improved to include additional features like high-speed data connectivity and smartphones, even in some of the island’s most isolated areas.
Only a small percentage of the thousands of earthquakes that Taiwanese officials record each year are felt. Similar to Japan, disaster preparedness is ingrained in the country’s culture, with frequent exercises held in workplaces and schools.
What about Taiwan’s high-tech industry?
Superpower in semiconductors, Taiwan is one of the world’s top locations for chip manufacturing, producing the chips found in everything from SUVs to cellphones.
It is home to businesses like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which oversees more than half of the global chip output, and Foxconn, the largest contract electronics manufacturer in the world.
After the earthquake, TSMC was one of the businesses that stopped production to inspect its facilities for damage.
Producing semiconductors, particularly for high-end chips, demands extremely precise manufacturing, which can be difficult in an earthquake-prone area.
Because chip-making machinery is so sensitive to even the smallest vibrations, companies like TSMC have added features like dampers to their buildings to lower the possibility of damaging their semiconductors.
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