Taiwan's earthquake preparedness has evolved over the past several decades in response to some of Taiwan's largest and most destructive earthquakes.
In the years after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck central Taiwan in 1999, killing about 2,500 people, authorities established urban search and rescue teams and opened several emergency medical operations centers, among other measures. We took the following steps.
And in 2018, the government ordered a series of building inspections after an earthquake killed 17 people and partially destroyed several buildings in the eastern coastal city of Hualien.
Taiwan has also improved its earthquake early warning system since the 1980s. And two years ago, it introduced new building codes that require owners of particularly vulnerable buildings to install temporary structural reinforcement.
So how prepared was Taiwan when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck near Hualien on Wednesday morning, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more?
The island's fire department said Wednesday afternoon that one building had completely collapsed across the island, 15 were partially destroyed and a further 67 were damaged. Structural engineers could not be reached for comment on their assessment of the damage or the extent to which building codes and other regulations contributed to the damage or prevented more serious destruction.
Steve Glassie, a New Zealand-based disaster response expert, said Taiwan is generally in very good shape when it comes to search and rescue preparedness.
“The skill set, capabilities, equipment and training are second to none,” said Dr. Grassie, who worked with Taipei City's urban search and rescue team during the response to the devastating Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake in 2011. Told. “They're a very sophisticated operation.”
But even the best search and rescue teams in a city would be stretched thin if an earthquake destroyed multiple buildings, Dr. Glassey said.
Taiwan has the option of requesting international assistance for search and rescue operations. There is also the possibility of directly requesting other countries to dispatch human resources. Additionally, if multiple teams participate, the United Nations may be asked for coordinating assistance, as was the case during the 1999 earthquake.
U.N. spokesman Pierre Perron said Wednesday afternoon that no such request had yet been made in the wake of the earthquake.
megan tobin Contributed to the report.