Post-quake rebuilding forum held on Taiwan's 921 earthquake anniversary

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) A forum on how communities in Taiwan and Japan were rebuilt following serious earthquakes was held in Nantou County Saturday to mark the two countries' close relationship working together in the field of disaster prevention and response since the devastating quake that struck central Taiwan on Sept. 21, 1999.

The forum took place at National Chi Nan University in Nantou's Puli Township on the theme of "Resilience-Driven Creation." A sculpture was unveiled and a concert held on Saturday evening, the events' organizers Newhomeland Foundation said in a press statement the same day.

The Puli-based foundation was established to promote community building in February 1999, a few months before the magnitude 7.3 "921 earthquake," according to its website.

The forum gathered a total of 30 speakers, 21 from Taiwan and nine from Japan, to share and exchange lessons learned from the 921 earthquake, which the foundation called the most serious natural disaster in Taiwan's history, and Japan's March 11, 2011 earthquake, which triggered a tsunami and a nuclear power plant meltdown, said Newhomeland.

According to official government information, the 921 earthquake took more than 2,400 lives in Taiwan, while Japan's Reconstruction Agency said "approximately 20,000 people lost their lives" in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Since the 921 earthquake in 1999, Taiwan and Japan have exchanged post disaster rebuilding experiences over the 25 years, former Examination Yuan President Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) said at the forum.

Huang served as the first chief executive of the 921 Earthquake Post-Disaster Recover Commission under the Executive Yuan between 2000 and 2022.

Hopefully, such exchanges between Taiwan and Japan will continue so both countries can build a more resilient future, said Huang, who concluded a four-year term as head of the Examination Yuan in August.

Takashi Hattori, a deputy representative of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office, also expressed hope that the two countries can continue working together on disaster-related issues after building a close and precious relation over the past 25 years.

To mark such close ties between Taiwan and Japan, the foundation said it commissioned local sculptor Chang Chia-ming (張家銘) to create a work on the theme of "resilience."

The stonework is mainly made using black granite from South Africa, which is known for being more durable and stronger, to reflect the theme of resilience, the foundation said.

It is decorated with rocks collected from quarries in Hualien County, and brass butterfly joints placed on the cracks in the stonework, according to the foundation.

The stonework is exhibited at the Paper Dome in Puli, which was originally built in Kobe, Japan, as a temporary replacement for the Takatori Catholic Church destroyed in the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995.

The partly paper-made building was donated to Taiwan in 2005, when the Japanese church planned to build a larger venue. It was rebuilt by the foundation at the current location in Puli for its expanded role as a community center.

The Paper Dome has been hosting an exhibition of 11 painters organized by the foundation to mark the earthquake anniversary since Sept. 12. The exhibition concludes on Sept. 30.