 Travelogue
Taiwan
921
- The Earthquake-Taiwan
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The
earthquake occurred on September 21, 1999. The people of Taiwan refer to it as
921. The quake’s major impact was in the mountain region in the center of the
island. Puli is the community which was the center of the quake’s greatest
devastation. Overall there were 2000 people killed, over 8000 injured and over
400,000 people left homeless..
 Right:
This
whole city block in Taichung was untouched and uninhabited six weeks after the
quake due to a lawsuit against the engineers involved in remodeling the
building.
 Left:
The
building in the front of this city block had a bank on the first floor being
renovated at the time of the quake. The people believe that this work had
undermined the integrity of the building. This was the only building in which
there was a loss of life in Taichung. 78 people were killed and 200 were left
homeless. There were however hundreds of buildings in Taichung which had
yellow caution flags on them due to structural problems after the quake.
The
quake, 7.8 on the Richter scale, was felt all over the island. Fortunately it
hit the island after midnight when most people where at home sleeping. There was
scattered damage with death and injuries in Taipei and Taichung but this the
people believe was due to poor engineering or construction of buildings.
 In
Eastern Taichung County the fault of the earthquake was visible because the land
sank close to ten feet all along the line. The result was the complete
destruction of this three story middle school.
 Left:
Fortunately
the school was empty due to the time the earthquake hit. There was nothing to
save from the building after the quake. It has become a sightseer's
attraction. Eventually they will create a memorial to the 921 victims here.
Right: The
fault sank about ten feet. This baseball field was flat at one time.
Left: The running track behind the middle
school was flat as well. It was  unbelievable to think of the land just sinking
like this! The amount of destruction was amazing. The mountain region east of
Taichung County in Puli experienced the worst hit. Almost all of their homes
were destroyed. They are now all living in temporary buildings in the Puli
region.
Right: The middle school is now located miles
away in a temporary buil ding campus. The old campus will be
converte
Most
of the island experienced a loss of electricity for 48 hours and loss of
drinking water for that period of time. It affected the silicon valley between
Taipei and Taichung.
 This poster was displayed around the
country encouraging the people to pull up their strength and to move on forward
after the horror of 921
It
took almost six weeks for the technology parks to get on their feet and get back
to pre-921 standards of production and quality control.
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