Made-in-Taiwan school still standing amid China’s Sichuan Ya’an earthquake rubble
April 27, 2013 Leave a comment
Made-in-Taiwan school still standing amid Ya’an rubble
Hong Chao-chun and Staff Reporter, 2013-04-26
One of the school buildings. (Photo/Hung Chao-chun)
The quality of the Made in Taiwan brand has passed the test after a Taiwan-designed elementary school withstood the 7.0 earthquake that destoyed thousands of buildings and caused 193 deaths in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, our sister paper Want Daily reports.
Taiwanese architect Hsu Yan-chi designed and built the elementary school in Ya’an city after the May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which devastated the region and left 87,000 people dead or missing. Last week’s earthquake ocurred on the morning of April 20, with the epicenter just south of the provincial capital Chengdu. Public buildings in the city of Ya’an were almost completely leveled except for the school designed by the Taiwanese architect. The building was funded by donations from Taiwan’s public.Hsu visited the elementary school on April 22 and closely observed each building and each classroom. He said he felt felt quite proud that his design was intact, despite small cracks on a few walls, and part of a ceiling that fell down.
The head of a delegation of architecture inspectors praised Hsu’s work and said that the reading corner in every classroom has been popular with the schoolchildren. Taking into account Ya’an’s rainy weather, Hsu designed a balcony for each classroom for pupils to hang their raincoats and umbrellas.
Our flagship newspaper China Times last August was the first Taiwanese media outlet to visit the elementary school after it was built. The 16 million yuan (US$2.6 million) for its construction was donated in whole by Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the school has become a major shelter for displaced survivors. An outdoor roof that covers a sports field on rainy days became the main site to accommodate people needing shelter, eliminating the need for makeshift tents.
Even after the earthquake, teachers are still residing in their school dormitories and are not worried that the building might collapse despite the more than 2,000 aftershocks since last Saturday’s quake.
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