Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Prosecutors indicted five private builders of a housing complex in Tainan Thursday on charges of "genocide through professional negligence" after 115 residents of their jerry-built houses died in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Feb. 6.
Family members of the victims from the collapsed building complained that the maximum punishment for such a fatal crime would be just 5 years behind bars, with one saying she could not forgive the unconscionable builders and irresponsible officials -- none of whom were charged -- and hoped they would be jailed for the rest of their lives.
After investigating the causes of the deadly incident, chief prosecutor Chen Chien-hung (陳建弘) of Tainan District Prosecutors Office said Lin Ming-hui (林明輝), the owner of Weiguan Corporation which built the Weiguan Jinlong housing complex in 1993, and four others responsible for designing and building the housing units, were suspected of professional negligence leading to death and injury.
"We request that the court hand down the most stern punishment for each of the five indictees as we possess clear-cut evidence of their crime," said Chen.
The four others were Hung Han-hsien (洪汗仙), chief of the construction company's designing department; Cheng Tung-hsu (鄭東旭), contracted structural engineer for the building; Cheng Chin-kui (鄭進貴) and Chang Kui-pao (張魁寶), unlicensed builder and supervisor of the building project.
Investigators found that Cheng Tung-hsu failed to factor in the weights of some of the pillars and beams, reducing the building's net load-bearing capacity by 44.3 percent and quake resistance capacity by 16.3 percent, according to the indictment.
It pointed out that Lin, in order to save building costs, ordered Hung to cut down on the cost of designing during the blueprint stage and then to use less than the standard amount of reinforcement in beam column joints when building the housing complex. Hung was even ordered to reduce the sizes of some pillars to further cut costs.
In addition, Lin also instructed Cheng to hire the unlicensed Chang to use Ta Hsin Construction Company's license to do part of the construction work. Between February and July of 1993, when the building process was well underway, no site supervisors were employed and no qualified technicians were on site to check the quality of the construction, according to the indictment.
All sorts of professional negligence and errors led to a shoddy building that was incapable of resisting the strong earthquake, causing heavy casualties in the Feb. 6 temblor, it said.
In spite of the damning evidence to support the charges against the five private builders, the victims' association said it wanted to know why not one single government official has been indicted in connection with this case.
"Since all these builders have been charged with negligence of duty, how could it be that no city or higher level government officials who used their chops on the building permit and who are supposed to ensure safety standards are not indicted?" said Liu Yi-chen (劉怡辰), chair of the Weiguan Jinlong Building Victims Families Association.
She was not impressed by the light punishment that will likely be meted out after court trial. "Would they (the indictees) like to place themselves in our shoes for five years, to feel what its like to have one's family members suffer from a fatal crash to the ground?" said, Liu, who lost three children and her husband.
Chen Ti-ting, whose daughter was killed in the collapsed building, said if possible, she would like to see the builders whipped in public so they know what heart-rending pain means.
Lee Su-tui, whose brother Lee Tsung-tien was among the 115 victims, said she could never forgive these unconscionable builders and contractors. "I'd prefer that they sit behind bars for the rest of their lives."
(By Yang Ssu-jui and S.C. Chang)
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