Local governments nationwide have launched safety inspections on old residential blocks and buildings with mixed commercial use in the wake of Thursday’s deadly fire in Kaohsiung’s Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building, which claimed 46 lives and injured dozens.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Friday that while the Ministry of the Interior’s regulations require fire safety inspections for buildings of 16 stories or higher, the Taipei City Government has since 2014 mandated safety inspection for buildings of 11 stories or higher.
Ko added that Taipei has 124 buildings that are mixed residential and commercial properties.
The Taipei City Government on Friday said that new regulations are to be enforced from Jan. 1 next year, requiring safety inspections on buildings over eight stories or higher.
When told that only about 40 percent of all high-rise buildings in Taipei have management committees, Ko said that he is aware of the situation, adding that the city government has special advisory teams to help residents set up their own committees.
“Right now we can only use persuasion,” he said, adding that “amending relevant laws enforcing management committee requirements would be the most direct way to deal with the issue, especially for those old high-rise buildings.”
Separately, some Taichung city councilors during deliberations at city hall on Friday said that Taichung has many mixed-use buildings that have been deemed unsafe.
To prevent fires or other tragedies from occurring in Taichung, the councilors have asked the city government to present a report on ways of dealing with unsafe or old buildings, and to have listed it for the next agenda.
Taichung City Councilor Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that the city government initiate immediate fire inspections and compile a list of all old buildings in Taichung.
He also urged enhanced programs for fire drills and safety inspections, along with firm enforcement of regulations for street-level arcade walkways, which are commonly occupied by scooters, other vehicles or illegal storefronts.
Meanwhile, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) on Friday said that he has ordered inspections of 50 buildings in the city deemed to be old or unsafe, adding that officials have already found five buildings “at high risk,” having failed fire safety inspections.
“They have been told to rectify the violations and a deadline has been given. If no improvement is found upon further inspection, fines would be imposed, and names of the buildings and their owners would be published to warn people not to live there,” he said.
Additional reporting by Hong Jui-chin
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from