Earthquake sways buildings in Taiwan, damage limited

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan Wednesday, felt throughout the island, though building damage is expected to be limited to the rural region of Nantou.

Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide said Thursday that buildings swayed in the capital of Taipei for about 15 seconds and fire was reported, but damage is expected to “unreinforced masonry construction near the earthquake’s epicentre” in the central Nantou region.

The majority of damage will likely be limited to nonstructural elements such as glazing, cladding, suspended ceilings, and interior walls, as well as to contents, while well-engineered high-rise buildings should be unaffected, the firm said.

“Yesterday’s event occurred about 30-40 km east of the Chelungpu fault, the fault that generated the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake,” Dr. Bingming Shen-Tu, senior principal scientist at AIR Worldwide said in a statement Thursday.

“The location and fault mechanism indicate that the event occurred further down dip of the 1999 earthquake rupture to the east. It may have ruptured the deep part of the fault system that was responsible for the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake.”

The quake also caused disruption to transportation systems in the island, as boulders fell onto roadways and its high-speed rail was shut down for inspection, AIR said.

According to AIR, in Taiwan, the majority of low- to mid-rise buildings are constructed with reinforced concrete frames and brick infill walls. Current Taiwan Building Codes (TBC) require ductile detailing of reinforced concrete frames, similar to the requirements of the American Concrete Institute and the Uniform Building Code (UBC) of 1982. Tall buildings are dominated by construction using reinforced concrete frames and shear walls.