The biggest story of this past week was the 6.4 magnitude earthquake which struck southern Taiwan at just before 4am on Saturday, February 6 as the nation was preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Although the epicenter was located in Kaohsiung’s Meinung Township, the city of Tainan was hit hardest, with at least 116 deaths and the collapse or severe damage of multiple buildings.
One building in particular – the Weiguan Jinlong complex – which was actually nine connected buildings, pancaked and fell on its side. As of Saturday, 114 people are confirmed dead at that site alone.
The Tainan City government is aggressively collecting evidence that can be used in a lawsuit against the construction company that built the Weiguan Jinlong complex.
Authorities have already arrested three of the developers – including the chairman of the building company Lin Ming-hui, as well as architects Chang Kui-bao and Cheng Chin-kui – under suspicion of professional negligence leading to loss of life. Authorities detained them on Tuesday over concerns that they might collude with other suspects.
On Wednesday, the Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office discovered that the Weiguan Jinlong complex had 50% fewer beam-column joint stirrups than called for in the original plans. Prosecutors say this had a serious impact on the building’s ability to withstand earthquakes.
Prosecutors have found that the Weiguan Jinlong complex was not designed by the firm that received approval to build it. They also found that the company that built the complex had borrowed a license from another company in order to get a construction permit.
Tainan’s Mayor Lai says that the city will move to seize the developer’s assets by Monday at the earliest.