The council's National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering released a report yesterday detailing liquefaction conditions around the country and strategies to deal with the situation. Liquefaction is a phenomenon where the shock waves from an earthquake cause the soil to lose virtually all its strength and behave, in effect, like quicksand.
Liquefaction is especially dangerous for buildings standing on reclaimed land.
In the early part of the century, most bridges damaged in Japan, for example, were damaged as a result of liquefaction around the supports used as foundations. Most of the 11 areas pinpointed in the report are in Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties. A road in the township was also rent by a crack more than 10cm wide, Luo said. The report outlined a plan to complete damage evaluation within two months, to be followed immediately by the construction of reinforcements. Township government offices are to list the damage as a result of the phenomenon, estimate contingency expenditures, and submit them to the central government's Committee for the Promotion of Post-disaster Reconstruction, according to center officials.