Taiwan’s most powerful earthquake in 25 years reveals an island of resilience.

By Lisa Peryman for Probe International

The images from Taiwan on Wednesday in the aftermath of its worst earthquake in 25 years show a sudden event in snapshot: partially collapsed buildings and mountains, loose boulders chasing cars. They also reveal the resilience of a country that has applied the lessons learned over decades of seismic frequency and strength. This quake was not the disaster that landed in 1999.

The 7.6 magnitude quake that struck central Taiwan in September of that year claimed 2,400 lives and injured 11,000, collapsed more than 10,000 buildings, and created an economic loss of USD 10 billion. By comparison, Wednesday’s 7.4 magnitude event has so far killed 12 and injured more than 1,000, with most deaths due to landslides or loosened debris as opposed to collapsed buildings. The swift recovery and rescue effort in the days since is attributed to Taiwan’s strict building codes, improved response procedures, and extensive public awareness campaigns.

The country’s building code has, in fact, long been a work in progress. In 1974, earthquake resistance requirements became the standard. Reinforced in response to quakes in other countries, the code came under a complete review following the 1999 disaster, toughened over time by building inspections and code updates informed by the teachings of new seismic events. The latest earthquake will inevitably prompt renewed focus on bolstering infrastructure, already a priority for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as the world’s dominant supplier.

Efforts to secure Taiwan against extensive quake damage over the past two decades include an early warning system for the island that sends alerts via phone to citizens seconds after an earthquake strikes. Other preparations include seismology stations equipped to take real-time measurements, the development of technology to determine structural risk during an event to improve survival outcomes, as well as modifications to buildings to strengthen resistance.

From the the 730-ton steel sphere absorbing the force of “violent swinging” inside Taipei 101, Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper, to apartment buildings fortified with steel braces and expanded columns and beams, to retrofitted and reinforced schools, Taiwan is a world-class quake survivor that has leaned into preparedness and education to champion its chances when faced with the worst.

The importance of design and fortification, and honest and accountable government, lingers as a tragic marker of the 7.9 magnitude 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, one of the world’s deadliest in recent history. With a catastrophic death toll of 80,000, the quake’s trail of damage included millions of buildings (5.46 million houses collapsed or destroyed of more than 10 million buildings affected), along with a striking number of schools and classrooms that caved without fight. Downing more than 7,000 schoolrooms in mostly rural areas, the devastation claimed 5,000 young lives (although the real toll is possibly twice that of the official count), and injured an estimated 15,000 students.

These schools and classrooms, built with substandard materials by unqualified contractors as a result of corruption, highlighted the unthinkable danger of “tofu construction.” The term became a widespread metaphor for shoddy construction (often in tandem with corruption) after China’s then Premier Zhu Rongji described flood dykes during a visit to the Yangtze River in 1998 as “tofu dregs.”