Safety inspectors have found problems at Taichung-area department stores in checks held after a deadly blast last week at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping center.
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00:00Here, do you see the road sign?
00:03Look down.
00:05Inspectors with gas detectors combed this kitchen at a department store food court in Taichung,
00:11searching for the sort of leak thought to be behind a deadly blast at another shopping center in the city last week,
00:17the Sinkong Mitsukoshi department store.
00:20In all, six local department stores are getting checks,
00:23and it hasn't taken long to find possible dangers.
00:26Here, they've found a rusty gas connector with signs of leakage.
00:30They've shut the gas off just in case.
00:32And here, more cause for concern, this time in the electrical wiring department.
00:40Department stores where problems are found face fines if they don't fix them,
00:44but the city says there are limits to what it can do to enforce safety rules.
00:50The blast at the Sinkong Mitsukoshi may be linked to illegal renovation work going on at the time,
00:55and officials say with no one blowing the whistle, they had no way of knowing about potential violations.
01:12That doesn't mean there won't be consequences for the Sinkong Mitsukoshi store's owners.
01:16In addition to fines, they're paying over US$330,000 for each of the four people killed in the blast,
01:23two staff members and two passers-by.
01:26And they've already paid the 30-plus injured people compensation.
01:29Injured staff members, though, worry about the future.
01:32The shopping center is their livelihood.
01:34It's not only shut down indefinitely, but also heavily damaged from the explosion.
01:44Any reopening will be far off, though,
01:46as investigators still try to piece together how the disaster happened,
01:50and who in the end is responsible.
01:52Scott Huang and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.