Quake starts virtuous cycle
At 7.58am on April 3, Taiwan was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, the strongest quake to hit Taiwan since the 921 Earthquake of September 1999.
This month’s quake caused serious damage in many places, with Hualien County being the hardest hit.
Search and rescue teams from home and abroad, and emergency personnel threw themselves into their tasks so that people trapped by the earthquake could reach safety, and communications and people’s lives could return to normal as soon as possible. Many tales of heroism were reported, but there were no major disasters and most people’s lives were hardly affected.
Japanese observers were amazed by the cubicle tents that the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation set up for disaster victims in reception centers, providing privacy and shelter. Some Japanese Internet users lamented that Japan had been outdone by the thoughtfulness of Taiwanese, but actually Japan has also done very well in the field of disaster response.
Taiwan and Japan are both island nations in earthquake regions. If a country is prone to disasters, it can prompt the state to establish comprehensive building regulations, while the public learns lessons, gains experience and grows wiser.
An American reporter remarked that it was hard to imagine how many people would be killed and injured if a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the US and how long it would take to get back to normal.
Social resilience depends on experience. Since the 921 Earthquake, Taiwan has comprehensively improved its architectural safety standards, This helped to mitigate this latest disaster.
The same is true of Taiwan’s production of electronic chips, which is of great concern to the world. Although some production lines in the factories of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co had to be shut down immediately following the quake, more than 70 percent of them were back in operation after 10 hours and 80 percent were up and running by the following day.
Every disaster is a test of the government and public. At the time of the 921 Earthquake, the international community was worried that there would be a shortage of silicon wafers, but supply returned to normal after just a month. The recovery following this month’s earthquake has been even faster, partly because there was hardly any interruption to water and electricity supplies.
Since the recent earthquake, Taiwan’s ruling and opposition parties have formed a firmer consensus on replacing aging buildings. Especially when it comes to home owners who were previously unwilling to undergo urban renewal, this earthquake has reminded them that danger is ever present.
This might explain why Taiwan’s benchmark stock index climbed nearly 400 points on April 9, and why stocks that rose were not only those of high-end chip and other technologies, but also those of construction companies.
Events following the Hualien earthquake have also revealed a virtuous cycle in international exchanges and interactions. Following Japan’s Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 and the one that struck Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1, many Japanese were moved by the generous assistance offered by Taiwan’s government and opposition parties.
Looking back 25 years to the 921 Earthquake, the first foreign rescue team to arrive in Taiwan came from Turkey. In February last year, Taiwan sent a search and rescue team to help Turkey after it was hit by a devastating earthquake, and Turkish media reported the team’s work widely and gratefully before it returned to Taiwan.
Such examples of mutual aid and cooperation have repeatedly shown the humanitarian spirit and friendship that exists in the international community.
Lee Shang
Taipei
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
US President Donald Trump’s second administration has gotten off to a fast start with a blizzard of initiatives focused on domestic commitments made during his campaign. His tariff-based approach to re-ordering global trade in a manner more favorable to the United States appears to be in its infancy, but the significant scale and scope are undeniable. That said, while China looms largest on the list of national security challenges, to date we have heard little from the administration, bar the 10 percent tariffs directed at China, on specific priorities vis-a-vis China. The Congressional hearings for President Trump’s cabinet have, so far,
For years, the use of insecure smart home appliances and other Internet-connected devices has resulted in personal data leaks. Many smart devices require users’ location, contact details or access to cameras and microphones to set up, which expose people’s personal information, but are unnecessary to use the product. As a result, data breaches and security incidents continue to emerge worldwide through smartphone apps, smart speakers, TVs, air fryers and robot vacuums. Last week, another major data breach was added to the list: Mars Hydro, a Chinese company that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as LED grow lights and the
US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, during an interview with the UK’s Times Radio, reacted to US President Donald Trump’s overturning of decades of US foreign policy by saying that “the chance for serious instability is very great.” That is something of an understatement. Fukuyama said that Trump’s apparent moves to expand US territory and that he “seems to be actively siding with” authoritarian states is concerning, not just for Europe, but also for Taiwan. He said that “if I were China I would see this as a golden opportunity” to annex Taiwan, and that every European country needs to think
RSS