After the disastrous Feb. 6 earthquake, soil liquefaction has become a major concern of the public. Minister without Portfolio Hsu Chun-yat today convened a meeting with relevant ministries and agencies and stated that related complementary measures must be announced in tandem with the release of information maps of potential soil liquefaction areas in order to help the public take precautions.
Based on Articles 6 and 7 of the Freedom of Government Information Law, the administration will proactively release its survey results and maps of the potential soil liquefaction areas, Minister Hsu stated. The survey maps that have already been produced will be released on schedule before March 13 on a website for use by the public.
Hsu reiterated that prior to promulgating potential soil liquefaction areas, extensive publicity must be conducted, along with comprehensive communications with and explanations to interested parties such as the residents, construction industry, financial and insurance sectors, media, city councilors and legislators.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) stated that its Central Geological Survey has conducted long-term surveys and research on soil liquefaction caused by earthquakes. The center has systematically carried out related surveys and mappings of the nation's major metropolitan areas.
Maps of soil liquefaction potential are compilations of the geological environments of regions and large areas, the MOEA stated. Their distribution areas are preliminarily classified into three levels: high, middle and low potential for soil liquefaction at earthquake magnitudes of 5 to 6. The center is expected to release this information along with a search system on a website in March.
As for complementary measures, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is working toward enhancing assessments of soil liquefaction potential for new architecture, strengthening structural designs of building foundations and augmenting supervision and monitoring mechanisms.
The MOI is also deliberating commissioning a professional engineers association to preliminarily screen existing buildings and present their evaluations and response strategies in order to mitigate soil liquefaction's effect on such buildings' safety.