Taiwan in mourning as anger grows over building work
Print Edition
FLAGS flew at half-mast across Taiwan yesterday as the island mourned more than 100 victims of a powerful earthquake who died when an apartment complex collapsed.
Many residents of the 16-story Wei-kuan complex in the southern city of Tainan were buried in rubble after the 6.4-magnitude quake struck on February 6.
Rescuers called off the search for survivors over the weekend after those reported missing had been accounted for.
All but two of the 116 dead were from the building — more than 380 people were inside the complex on the night of the quake.
Chinese New Year celebrations scheduled by government agencies were called off yesterday, and Tainan’s government asked for the freezing of further assets belonging to the developer and architects of the building.
Anger is growing in Taiwan over accusations of shoddy building work — prosecutors have said there were “flaws” in the building, including inadequate steel reinforcement bars, and the developer is one of three men facing charges related to the disaster.
Frustrations were exacerbated after photos of rubble at the site showed foam and tin cans had been used as concrete fillers.
“The developer really had no conscience constructing such a building, he should be severely punished,” said Liu Kun-min, whose brother, sister-in-law and two sons were killed in the quake, told Apple Daily.
Tainan’s city government yesterday sought to freeze NT$220 million (US$6.6 million) in assets belonging to nine people, including the developer, Lin Ming-hui, his shareholders, two architects and a contractor. The government is acting on behalf of 93 families involved in the collapse.
Lin and architects Cheng Chin-kui and Chang Kui-pao, as well as a contractor linked to the building, already saw NT$30 million in assets frozen by Tainan district court last week at the request of the city government.
A further NT$10 million was frozen by the court at the request of a voluntary legal foundation acting for two families of the victims.
Hsiao Po-jen, head of the city government’s legal affairs, said a family member of architect Cheng had been stopped trying to withdraw more than NT$10 million from his bank account.
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