After the Earthquake
In September 1999, Taiwan suffered an earthquake which killed more than 2000 people. What effect did it have on farmers, and how are farmers managing now?
Earthquakes destroy roads, bridges and railway lines. They lay in ruins the transport infrastructure on which farmers depend to bring their goods to market. One of the areas which suffered the worst damage was the central mountain range, where there are hundreds of small fruit farms. After the earthquake, many villages were left isolated. Growers found themselves with no way to bring their fruit to market.
The earthquake left much of Taiwan's landscape in pieces. Its massive force, the equivalent of 30 atomic bombs, thrust land upwards, creating great rifts in what had been smooth, even paddy fields. In slopeland areas, many farmers found that their fields had been buried by mudslides, or had collapsed downhill.
A major reconstruction program restored communications and roads in the lowlands within a few weeks. In slopeland areas, it is taking longer. The parent rocks in most of Taiwan are soft mudstones and shales. Many slopes are still unstable. Rockfalls and mudslides occur whenever there are heavy rains. These slopes will remain dangerous for some time. Eventually they will stabilize, and plants will grow over them, anchoring the soil with their roots.
Among the heroes of the earthquake are the power and transport workers, who operate heavy machinery on steep, unstable slopes to restore the communications network. After heavy rain, they often see all the work of several months destroyed, and have to start again. Slowly, nature and people are mending the earthquake damage.
Index of Images
Figure 1 Damage from Earthquake in Taiwan: Bridge on Fault Line
Figure 2 Damage from Earthquake in Taiwan: Fault Line Running through Paddy Field
