Charges Filed Against Three for Building Collapse|翠堤倒塌14死 起訴建商.建築師

Fourteen people died when Hualien's Yunmen Cuidi building collapsed during a powerful earthquake on Feb. 6. The Hualien District Prosecutors Office announced the results of its investigation on June 15, and said it will file charges of death due to professional negligence against the building constructor's person in charge, architect and civil engineer.

Prosecutors said the constructor, Beige Construction Company, did not have construction qualifications and also lacked professional skills. To save money, it borrowed the qualification of "first rate constructor" of the previous person in charge, but he has actually already passed away.

It also commissioned architects and civil engineers to design the building and conduct structural analyses. However, the design failed to consider construction difficulties, and errors such as the misuse of steel reinforcing bars occurred. There were a series of errors that caused the collapse of the building.

As for the interior decoration of a hotpot restaurant and a hotel inside the building, prosecutors found that it did not affect the structural safety, and therefore they declined to prosecute based on insufficient evidence on these two structures.

The media also previously reported that a business on the first floor had taken down a load-bearing wall. Prosecutors said they looked at the original blueprints, and the design of the usage license issued in 1994 did not include 23 walls, showing the media reports and facts were inconsistent.