After a massive earthquake struck Tainan six years ago, the Construction and Planning Agency amended the Seismic Design Specifications and Commentary of the Building Technical Regulations (建築技術規則).
The main aim was to ensure that buildings have a state-of-the-art earthquake-resistant structure to reduce potential damage.
There is a widely held misconception that bulkier and sturdier structures are more earthquake-safe.
However, heavy materials increase the weight of a building, leading to more serious damage in the event that it collapses during an earthquake. Therefore, structural integrity and weight reduction, for example through minimizing decorative elements, are key factors of earthquake safety.
Structural elements, such as beams, need to be strong and sturdy, but for nonstructural elements, such as external walls and internal partitions, lightweight materials should be favored.
Under some circumstances, replacing reinforced concrete with lightweight materials might become increasingly popular for new buildings in earthquake-prone areas. Such materials also have sound and heat insulating properties suitable for energy-efficient buildings. They include recycled materials, such as glass, bricks and tiles, as well as sintered sludge from reservoirs.
Over the past few years, Taiwanese manufacturers have been developing a variety of such high-quality materials, rectifying the misconception about such materials’ inferiority.
Public projects and the construction industry should strongly promote their use, creating a “circular economy” in the construction sector.
Chen Wen-ching is convener of the Recycling Green Building Material Industry Alliance.
Translated by Eddy Chang
What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established. The KMT would likely not object to this notion. However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking
Taipei’s population is estimated to drop below 2.5 million by the end of this month — the only city among the nation’s six special municipalities that has more people moving out than moving in this year. A city that is classified as a special municipality can have three deputy mayors if it has a population of more than 2.5 million people, Article 55 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) states. To counter the capital’s shrinking population, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) held a cross-departmental population policy committee meeting on Wednesday last week to discuss possible solutions. According to Taipei City Government data, Taipei’s
A 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death last week in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Although Beijing called it “an isolated incident that could happen in any country,” the tragedy is widely viewed as a cautionary tale of the consequences of the rise of ultranationalism and xenophobia in China, which has worsened as its economy deteriorates. The suspect is a 44-year-old unemployed Chinese man. The stabbing occurred on Sept. 18 — the sensitive anniversary of the “918” incident of 1931, which is commemorated in China as the start of the Japanese invasion of northeast Manchuria. Chinese officials and state media
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pushing nationalist rhetoric and xenophobic education, and now this has led to tragedy. On Wednesday last week — the 93rd anniversary of the Mukden Incident, when Japan launched its invasion of Manchuria — a 10-year-old Japanese boy living in Shenzhen was stabbed to death on his way to school. This is the second time this year a Japanese citizen has been attacked in public in China. In addition to the attacks on Japanese residing in China, five US college teachers were injured in a knife attack in June. These attacks show a surge of