Engineers Rush To Assess Earthquake Damage as Aftershocks Shake Taiwan

Engineers across Taiwan are rushing to assess earthquake damage as aftershocks from this month's magnitude 7.2 earthquake continue.

Transcript

00:00 This apartment block withstood the 7.2 earthquake that shook Hualien earlier this month.

00:05 But major aftershocks on Tuesday proved too much for the weakened structure, collapsing

00:09 a whole wall.

00:12 Residents had been evacuated so demolition crews could take down a collapsed building

00:15 next door.

00:17 These two say no one told them that their building was also at risk.

00:21 Hualien's building inspectors have found 57 buildings that either need to be repaired

00:25 or demolished, but they've only been going to places where residents report damage.

00:30 Damage that's not reported or just not noticed is slipping through the cracks.

00:35 This hotel was still occupied when it began to lean Tuesday.

00:39 No one was killed, but no one had declared the building unsafe either.

00:43 Some local officials are unhappy with what they see as a passive approach to damage inspection.

00:48 "The Hualien County Government should take responsibility for this and take the initiative

00:55 to investigate."

00:56 But while Hualien took the brunt of the damage in the recent earthquakes, there are over

00:59 200 buildings across the country that have either been condemned or declared unsafe without

01:04 repairs.

01:05 In Taipei, Mayor Jiang Wan'an says there's already been another round of checks, just

01:10 to be sure.

01:11 "There are over 1,800 buildings that have been condemned or declared unsafe since the

01:18 2004-04 earthquake.

01:19 The city's public works office has also joined forces with the San Francisco City Council

01:23 to inspect the buildings again.

01:24 We've already completed the construction of the 2004-04 building."

01:28 Checks in neighboring New Taipei found no further signs of damage either.

01:31 But just to be sure nothing gets missed like in Hualien, the central government has a plan.

01:36 "The city's public works office and the city's public works office have formed a

01:41 team to assist and supervise the local government in launching a safety inspection mechanism

01:46 and to do a good job of monitoring and to implement the safety inspection demolition

01:50 measures as soon as possible."

01:51 With aftershocks expected for at least a few more months, the work of Taiwan's building

01:55 inspectors is far from over.

01:58 Chris Ma and John Ventreast for Taiwan Plus.

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