On New Year’s Day, Japan’s Noto Peninsula was hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, resulting in heavy casualties. I am a civil engineer and a member of the Tainan Fire Bureau Search and Rescue Team, but I was unable to help with rescue efforts in the disaster zone, as Japan politely declined offers of international rescue assistance.
However, I took a few days off from work to travel to the area and conduct a preliminary survey.
The main disaster causes were soil liquefaction and the collapse of old houses built with woven bamboo and mud walls. This raises the question of whether Taiwan could handle such a seismic disaster.
The areas hit hardest by the earthquake include Wajima, Shushu and Anamizu in the north of the peninsula. My survey focused on Nanao, which lies in the peninsula’s center.
As soon as I arrived, I saw signs of small-scale soil liquefaction along the road, causing protrusions, subsidence and cracks in the road surface. Houses in the disaster area are all three stories or lower in height. Soil liquefaction is affected by a high water table and the distribution of soil composed of different particles. Soil liquefaction only damaged homes in parts of Nanao, mostly in the form of toppled and collapsed old houses with woven bamboo and mud walls — the main cause of casualties.
During Qing Dynasty rule and the Japanese colonial era, many houses in Taiwan were built with woven bamboo and mud walls. The main materials in these homes, some of which still exist, were makino bamboo, mud and rice husks. When the 921 Earthquake hit, many earthen-walled houses collapsed, and although they were not as heavy as brick walls, the weight of fully collapsed roofs and entire houses was still enough to cause death and injury.
How many people in Taiwan still live in such weak and aging homes? This question should be a focal point for the Ministry of the Interior. Furthermore, one key point of the ministry’s earthquake-proofing reinforcement measures should be how to reduce casualties when earthen-walled houses are struck by earthquakes.
In the Noto Peninsula earthquake, heavy snowfall and inconvenient transportation exacerbated secondary disasters. Water stoppages and power outages worsened the situation. The main reason for water supply interruptions is water pipeline ruptures. If a disaster hits an area with emergency backup wells for war preparedness or drought relief, these wells might be an emergency solution, and should be another disaster prevention measure for Taiwan to consider. This would be critical if a disaster zone becomes isolated from outside supplies. As for power outages, they are caused by power line damage. If disaster strikes an area where solar panels have been installed on low-rise building roofs, they could provide some much-needed power.
Search-and-rescue teams should consider more lightweight rescue and relief equipment for deployment to hard-to-reach disaster zones. Any medium-sized search-and-rescue team in Taiwan consists of about 70 people with rescue equipment weighing several tonnes. How could such a team have reached the Noto Peninsula to help with disaster relief? In a scenario where all the collapsed houses are built with woven bamboo and mud walls, a team using lightweight equipment would have a good chance of rescuing many people and reducing casualties.
Let us pray for the Noto Peninsula disaster victims and hope that their lives could soon return to normal.
Johnson Kung is a board member of the Taiwan Professional Civil Engineers’ Association and a member of the Tainan Fire Bureau Search and Rescue Team.
Translated by Julian Clegg
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
The US election result will significantly impact its foreign policy with global implications. As tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait and conflicts elsewhere draw attention away from the western Pacific, Taiwan was closely monitoring the election, as many believe that whoever won would confront an increasingly assertive China, especially with speculation over a potential escalation in or around 2027. A second Donald Trump presidency naturally raises questions concerning the future of US policy toward China and Taiwan, with Trump displaying mixed signals as to his position on the cross-strait conflict. US foreign policy would also depend on Trump’s Cabinet and
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump is to be the 47th president of the US after beating his Democratic rival, US Vice President Kamala Harris, in the election on Tuesday. Trump’s thumping victory — winning 295 Electoral College votes against Harris’ 226 as of press time last night, along with the Republicans winning control of the US Senate and possibly the House of Representatives — is a remarkable political comeback from his 2020 defeat to US President Joe Biden, and means Trump has a strong political mandate to implement his agenda. What does Trump’s victory mean for Taiwan, Asia, deterrence