Taiwan Public Safety

The Taipei FD is online at ?www.tfd.tw. Taipei has ?28 fire stations. See Major FDs file.

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19 Feb 1995 Associated Press story - 64 people died in anightclub fire in Taichung in central Taiwan on Wednesday 15 Feb 1995. It was the deadliest fire in the island's history. Employees reportedly used a gas burner carelessly causing a rapidly spreading fire which trapped its victim's on the upper floors of the three story club. The relatives of the victims petitioned the Taichung city government for compensation and the night club owner said he was willing to give them all of his assets (estimated to be $1.9 million.)

The mayor of Taichung said that the club violated zoning laws and that such problems are common throughout Taiwan. Official figures show a steady increase in fatal fires in Taiwan - from 7,742 fires in 1991 with 250 deaths - to 10,764 fires and 371 deaths in 1994.

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Govt: Taiwan Quake Killed 2,297

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan's massive earthquake last fall killed 2,297 people, more than half of whom died in the first two hours, officials said today. Sixty-seven percent of the victims died in the Sept. 21 tremor because they lost too much blood, were hit by debris or were crushed to death, the state-run Central News Agency quoted health official Huang Hsu-ming as saying.

Most of the other victims were poisoned by gas leaks, suffered fatal burns or suffocated after being buried in the 7.6-magnitude quake that hit central Taiwan, Huang said.

The official said that 56 percent of the victims died within two hours after the 7.6-magnitude quake, and 90 percent died in the first day. Months after the quake, most estimates put the death toll between 2,300 and 2,400.

The count doesn't include suicides that may be linked to the tremor, Huang said. According to Japan's experience, most quake-related suicides occur six months after the disaster, Huang said.

AP-NY-04-12-00 0637EDT< - Copyright � Associated Press. All rights - this info came via AP via the EOC at www.911dispatch.com

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May 6, 2000
Hospital Fire Kills Eight in Taiwan  
Filed at 4:15 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- A fire blazed through a hospital before dawn Saturday in eastern Taiwan, killing eight people, most of them elderly patients, police reported. 
Another 18 people were injured, many of them too ill to walk, and were rescued by firefighters from the burning five-story hospital in Ilan, 70 miles southeast of Taipei, police said. 
It took more than 100 firefighters two hours to extinguish the fire. 
Among those who died in the blaze were a 90-year-old woman and her 23-year-old granddaughter tending to her, both of whom died of smoke inhalation. 
Police did not know yet what caused the fire, had not ruled out the possibility of arson. 
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Created 3 April 2000 by Peter Szerlag

14 Apr 00 - added govt info on earthquake deaths - 7May00 Hosp fire -