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On Thursday (Sept. 7) evening, Taipei City Government offices received notice that residential buildings in the Dazhi area of Zhongshan District were starting to tilt, and by 10:49 p.m. a loud noise was heard emanating from a building on Dazhi Street, Lane 94 turning the first floor into a basement, reported Liberty Times. The city government evacuated 367 residents from 197 households in the neighborhood to nine hotels and a video of the sinking structure has gone viral.
There were reportedly five to six buildings that cracked and tilted. It was found that a construction project near the area had been excavated to a depth of three floors without completing proper foundation work.
Burglar bars on building seen starting to warp. (Facebook, Chen Yi-chun photo)
As the apartment partially collapsed, a watching resident was cited by the newspaper as saying, "It's so terrifying. It really sank and the floor just disappeared." Residents of surrounding buildings were worried about whether their homes would suffer a similar fate.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chen Yi-chun (陳怡君), who rushed to the scene, blamed the construction firm Kee Tai Properties Co. Ltd., for failing to take adequate measures. This was despite complaints issued for four months by residents that cracks were forming in nearby buildings.
According to Chen, the company only took passive measures such as patching the cracks with cement.
Building after it crushed lower floor. (Facebook, Wang Hong-wei photo)
Chen said a loud noise was heard from the construction site around 7 p.m. The residents heard construction workers evacuating from the site, but it was 30 minutes before someone informed nearby residents of the danger and urged them to evacuate, said Chen. He labeled the company's slow response as a "reckless disregard for human lives."
Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Ping-fu (陳炳甫) also posted a video of the building's partial collapse on his Facebook page. Chen said the sinkhole in Xinyi District was caused by the negligence of a construction firm.
Chen pledged that he will ask the city government to punish the construction unit and review how to conduct inspections of construction sites throughout Taipei City to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.
Video shows Taipei apartment suddenly sink 1 floor
'It's so terrifying. It really sank and the floor just disappeared' says resident
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Seconds before building started sinking (left), building in process of sinking. (New-reporter screenshots
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An apartment in Taipei City suddenly sank and tilted dramatically as multiple buildings in the area also sustained serious structural damage following construction site problems, as seen in a video.
On Thursday (Sept. 7) evening, Taipei City Government offices received notice that residential buildings in the Dazhi area of Zhongshan District were starting to tilt, and by 10:49 p.m. a loud noise was heard emanating from a building on Dazhi Street, Lane 94 turning the first floor into a basement, reported Liberty Times. The city government evacuated 367 residents from 197 households in the neighborhood to nine hotels and a video of the sinking structure has gone viral.
There were reportedly five to six buildings that cracked and tilted. It was found that a construction project near the area had been excavated to a depth of three floors without completing proper foundation work.
As the apartment partially collapsed, a watching resident was cited by the newspaper as saying, "It's so terrifying. It really sank and the floor just disappeared." Residents of surrounding buildings were worried about whether their homes would suffer a similar fate.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chen Yi-chun (陳怡君), who rushed to the scene, blamed the construction firm Kee Tai Properties Co. Ltd., for failing to take adequate measures. This was despite complaints issued for four months by residents that cracks were forming in nearby buildings.
According to Chen, the company only took passive measures such as patching the cracks with cement.
Chen said a loud noise was heard from the construction site around 7 p.m. The residents heard construction workers evacuating from the site, but it was 30 minutes before someone informed nearby residents of the danger and urged them to evacuate, said Chen. He labeled the company's slow response as a "reckless disregard for human lives."
Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Ping-fu (陳炳甫) also posted a video of the building's partial collapse on his Facebook page. Chen said the sinkhole in Xinyi District was caused by the negligence of a construction firm.
Chen pledged that he will ask the city government to punish the construction unit and review how to conduct inspections of construction sites throughout Taipei City to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.
