TAINAN, TAIWAN — Controversy has arisen after the discovery of cooking oil tin cans inside the pillars of the 17-story building in Tainan, Taiwan that collapsed after an earthquake on February 6th, reported ET Today.
However, Cao Deng-gui, an architect in Taiwan, posted on Facebook saying that they may not have been responsible for the building's collapse.
The 17-story building collapsed after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurred on February 6th at around 4 a.m. in the separate city of Kaohsiung, CNN reports.
The building had survived a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that took place previously on September 21, 1999 because the intensity of that temblor was only a 4, compared to the 7 in the Kaohsiung earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
According to Cao, aluminum cans later found inside the walls of the building were used to enlarge the pillars without significantly increasing the weight, which was legal in Taiwan for buildings built before 1999.
Steel rods inside the building were also found to be locked at 90-degree angles instead of 135-degree angles, which increased the risk of them becoming loose during an earthquake, said Cao. However, construction laws did not specify a degree in which the rods were supposed to be bent at until the disastrous earthquake in 1999.
The U-shaped building was built as nine connected blocks. Without a fourth wall to hold the ends of the U shape, the building fell in the opposite direction during the quake, said Lee Kun-huan, an architect and a former mayor of the area, to the New York Times.
According to Lee, the building complex was six times as tall as the surrounding three-story buildings. The building was so massive it occupied every part of its site and even over loose columns where sidewalks were supposed to be.
"Under the current regulations, they would never have been allowed to build such a big building," Lee said. "When the design and blueprints were done, they probably did not allow for earthquakes."
More than 72 hours have passed since the earthquake struck, more than 107 people are still missing and death toll has risen up to 42, reported Apple Daily News.
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