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February 8th, 2016 
Awake Goy nsnbc : The collapse of the 17-story Wei Guan Golden Dragon Building in Tainan, Taiwan during a 6.4 magnitude earthquake may have been caused by the use of cooking oil cans as construction material. 31 of the 33 fatalities during the quake have been recovered from the collapsed building. 119 are believed to be trapped inside the building and the rubble.
The number of casualties and fatalities is likely to increase dramatically as search and rescue teams are in a race against time. Some 309 people have been recovered so far. Another 119 are believed to be trapped inside the collapsed building and the rubble. Over 500 have been injured.
The 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan on Saturday, on day before the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The epicenter of the quake was located 28km NE of Pingtung, 35km SE of Yujing, 46km NE of Kaohsiung, 48km ESE of Tainan, Taiwan, and 672km E of Hong Kong. The hypocenter (depth) was at 32 kilometers which is relatively shallow and increased the destructive force of the quake.
Although other buildings were damaged, the 17-story Wei Guan Golden Dragon Building in Tainan was the only high-rise building to collapse. The building toppled over to one side as reinforced concrete columns began crumbling. An inspection of the collapsed building reveled cooking-oil cans embedded in the building’s concrete walls.
Was it not for the tragic fact that 33 died, 119 are believed to be trapped inside the building and that chances for rescuing survivors decrease by the hour, one could almost joke about the fact that the tragedy caused by cooking-oil cans and possibly corruption may give a novel meaning to the word pan-cake collapse.
Several other buildings in the city at alarming angles and will have to be demolished. Cooking-oil cans embedded inside wall cavities were also part of the cause of building collapses during another earthquake that struck Taiwan in 1999.
Taiwan’s Premier Minister Simon Chang pledged to provide all necessary assistance to the Tainan City Government and those affected by the quake. While visiting a local hospital Chang told the press that “Emergency workers will continue to work around the clock to try to rescue as many people as possible”.
PM Simon Chang also questioned the polystyrene and cooking-oil cans that were found stuffed inside some of the walls, in beams, as well as in the columns of the Wei Guan Golden Dragon (Weiguan Jinlong) building. Chang stressed that:
“Tainan Mayor William Lai has vowed to seek justice on behalf of residents of the residential complex if the building is determined to have been jerry-built.”
Chang promised that the central government of Taiwan would provide legal aid and other forms of assistance to help residents and the City Administration in the case that the building was poorly constructed. Chang said that:
“The city government has been quite thorough and clear-minded in its rescue operations. While the Executive Yuan is not on the rescue front-line, we will be a strong backup force that provides necessary support”.
The Taipei Times reports that a disaster evaluation team from Japan and a Taiwanese-Chinese husband-and-wife team have arrived to provide assistance in the wake of a series of earthquakes. With 119 still missing and with search and rescue teams having to approach the work with caution and care, the death toll is likely to rise significantly.
F/AK – nsnbc 08.02.2016
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/02/08/taiwan-high-rise-collapse-possibly-caused-by-cooking-oil-cans-as-construction-material/
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