Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north.
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Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned to delineate the boundary between Europe and Asia, thereby making Turkey a country of significant geostrategic importance. Ethnic Turks form the majority of the population, followed by the Kurds. The predominant religion in Turkey is Islam and its official language is Turkish.
Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Turkey is the successor state to the Ottoman Empire. It is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic, with an ancient and historical cultural heritage. Its political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Today, Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism.
The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts. Provinces usually bear the same name as their provincial capitals, also called the central district; exceptions to this custom are the provinces of Hatay (capital: Antakya), Kocaeli (capital: İzmit) and Sakarya (capital: Adapazarı).
Demographic Development of Turks
"any individual within the Republic of Turkey; whatever his/her faith or racial/ethnic background; who speaks Turkish, grows up with Turkish culture and adopts the Turkish ideal, is a Turk." It is easy to become Turk. Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as "anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship"; therefore, the legal use of the term "Turkish" as a citizen of Turkey is different from the ethnic definition. Turk like Malay in Malaysia, is constitutionally defined. But the constitution definition of Turk is more liberal, as it is regardless of faith or religion, as Turkey is a secular state.
The actual Turk are The name Turk (突厥) was first applied to a clan of tribal chieftains (known as Ashina) who overthrew the ruling Rouran confederency, and founded the nomadic Göktürk Empire ("Celestial Turks") These nomads roamed in the Altai Mountains (and thus are known as Altaic peoples) in northern Mongolia and on the steppes of Central Asia. The Göktürks were ruled by Khans whose influences extended during the sixth to eighth centuries from the Aral Sea to the Hindu Kush in the land bridge known as Transoxania. In the eighth century, some Turkic tribes, among them the Oghuz, moved south of the Oxus River, while others migrated west to the northern shore of the Black Sea. Subsequently, it was adopted as a generic ethnonym designating most if not all of the Turkic-speaking tribes in Central Asia by the Muslim peoples with whom they came into contact. The imperial era also provided a legacy of political and social organisation (with deep roots in pre-Türk Inner Asia) that in its Türk form became the common inheritance of the Turkic groupings of Central Asia.
"Turkishness" (citizenship of Turkey) is the cornerstone of the Republic of Turkey, according to the Turkish Constitution. Kemalist ideology defines the "Turkish people" as "those who protect and promote the moral, spiritual, cultural and humanistic values of the Turkish nation." Kemalist ideology defines the "Turkish nation" as "a nation of Turkish people who always love and seek to exalt their family, country, and nation; who know their duties and responsibilities towards the democratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law and founded on human rights, and on the tenets laid down in the preamble to the constitution of the Republic of Turkey."
The Kemalist revolution aimed to create a Turkish nation state (Turkish: ulus devlet) on the territory of the former Ottoman Empire that had remained within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The meaning of Turkishness (Turkish: Türklük) implies a "citizenship" (of the Republic of Turkey) and "cultural identity" (speaking the Turkish language and growing up with the mainstream Turkish culture) rather than an ethno-genetical background. The Turkish-speaking Muslim citizens of the Ottoman Empire had been called "Turks" for centuries by the Europeans, and the Ottoman Empire was alternatively called "Turkey" or the "Turkish Empire" by its contemporaries. However, the Devşirme system and intermarriages with people in the former Ottoman territories of Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa ensured a largely heterogeneous gene pool that makes up the fabric of the present-day Turkish nation. The Turks of today, in short, are the descendants of the Turkish-speaking Muslims in the former Ottoman Empire. They are the result of war, religion conversion, intermarriage, and Turkification.
Other major ethnic groups (large portions of whom have been extensively Turkicized since the Seljuk and Ottoman periods) include the Abkhazians, Adjarians, Albanians, Arabs, Assyrians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Hamshenis, Kurds, Laz, Pomaks, Roma, Zazas and the three officially recognized minorities (per the Treaty of Lausanne), i.e. the Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Signed on January 30, 1923, a bilateral accord of population exchange between Greece and Turkey took effect in the 1920s, with close to 1.5 million Greeks moving from Turkey and some 500,000 Turks coming from Greece
Minorities of West European origin include the Levantines (or Levanter, mostly of French, Genoese and Venetian descent) who have been present in the country (particularly in Istanbul and İzmir) since the medieval period.
The Kurds
The Kurds, a distinct ethnic group concentrated mainly in the southeastern provinces of the country, are the largest non-Turkic ethnicity, estimated at about 18% of the population. During the 1930s and 1940s, the government had disguised the presence of the Kurds statistically by categorizing them as Mountain Turks. This classification was changed to the new euphemism of Eastern Turk in 1980. Since the Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity, so no statistic of Kurds is easily available. Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish female MP from Diyarbakir, caused an uproar in Turkish Parliament after adding the following sentence in Kurdish to her parliamentary oath during the swearing-in ceremony in 1994:
"I take this oath for the brotherhood of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples".
In March 1994, the Turkish Parliament voted to lift the immunity of Zana and five other Kurdish DEP members: Hatip Dicle, Amet Turk, Sirri Sakik, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak. Zana, Dicle, Sadak and Dogan were sentenced to 15 years in jail by the Supreme Court in October 1995. Zana was awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights by the European Parliament in 1995. She was released in 2004 amid warnings from European institutions that the continued imprisonment of the four Kurdish MPs would affect Turkey's bid to join the EU.
Minorities other than the three officially recognized ones(Armenians, Greeks and Jew)do not have any special group privileges, while the term "minority" itself remains a sensitive issue in Turkey. Reliable data on the exact ethnic repartition of the population is not available since the Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity. Turkification, i.e. cultural assimilation, is eagerly implemented in political policies of the state. Minority like Laz, Hemsin,formerly Christian have been assimilated into Turk culture and Islamic religion. Assyrians are declining. Turkification is still going on.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Bartholomew I has been headquartered in Istanbul since the fourth century AD. However, the Turkish government does not recognize the Patriarch as the leader of Orthodox Christianity, and forces the Church to operate under significant restrictions.
IDP
There are 1-1.2 million IDPs (fighting 1984-99 between Kurdish PKK(The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan)and Turkish military; most IDPs in southeastern provinces)(2007). PKK is an ethnic military secessionist organization for the purpose of achieving its goal of creating an independent Kurdish state, in parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. Several large scale Kurdish revolts in 1925, 1930 and 1938 were suppressed by the Turkish government and more than one million Kurds were forcibly relocated between 1925 and 1938. The use of Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names were banned and the Kurdish-inhabited areas remained under martial law until 1946. Between 1984 and 1999, the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, as Kurdish civilians moved to local defensible centers such as Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included PKK atrocities against Kurdish clans they could not control, the poverty of the southeast, and the Turkish state's military operations.
Cyprus Issue
Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was established. Turkey is the only country to recognise the TRNC. The status of north Cyprus question remains blur.
Armenia relationship
Turkey's border with Armenia, a state in the Caucasus, remains closed following its occupation of Azeri territory during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Turkey is having complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea; Syria and Iraq protest Turkish hydrological projects to control upper Euphrates waters; Turkey has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq.
Turkey is now applying for full membership of EC. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, WEOG, OSCE and the G-20 major economies.
Related articles
1. Genetic origins of the Turkish people, http://en.wikipedia.or/ wiki/ Genetic_origins_of_the_Turkish_people
2. Turkish people, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_people
3. Turkey, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey
4. Turkey, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Turkey: Earthquake
The 6.0-magnitude quake, epicentred on the village of Basyurt in Elazig province, struck at 0432 (0232 GMT). It has been followed by more than 40 aftershocks. Officials said the nearby village of Okcular had been almost destroyed and several others badly damaged. The 6.0-magnitude quake struck before dawn on Monday 8-3-2010, toppling buildings in five villages. The earthquake that struck near the eastern Turkish village of Basyurt is the latest in a series of deadly tremors to hit the country. The destruction was said to be worst in the Kurdish village of Okcular, where at least 15 people were killed.
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An earthquake expert said that an earthquake with this magnitude should not usually cause any deaths, but mud-brick houses and other buildings that are not resistant to earthquakes can cause so much death and destruction
Turkey, which is crossed by the Northern and Eastern Anatolian fault lines, suffers from frequent earthquakes.Turkey is fundamentally vulnerable to earthquakes because of its geographical location. The country sits between two huge tectonic plates, Eurasia and Africa/Arabia, which are inexorably grinding into one another, north to south.
The Anatolian plate, on which most of the Turkish landmass lies, is being squeezed westwards towards the Aegean Sea. Periodic movements happen along two main faults, the North Anatolian fault and the East Anatolian fault. The earthquake in Basyurt looks likely to have been triggered by movement on the eastern fault.
Many of the earthquake are minor, though a 7.4-magnitude tremor which hit the western city of Izmit in August 1999 killed more than 17,000 people. Istanbul is a city that's at risk from a significant earthquake at some point in the future.
This means safe building practices are essential in earthquake-prone areas.
Many of the losses in earthquake regions arise from non-compliance with earthquake building codes. Severe damage can be caused by relatively small earthquakes.
Poor quality buildings were also blamed for the high death toll then and there is still concern in Turkey's largest city, where seismologists predict a major earthquake will occur within the next few decades.
But ironically the poor quality buildings are always the excuses by the government after the earthquakes in Turkey. It seems that no action were taken after many earthquakes. Compared to Chile, Turkish government is not a responsible government, as being located at earthquake prone area, the strict building code for earthquake resistant buildings is important, and to be strictly enforced, especially at urban area. Is it because it was a Kurdish area? Should the government wait until Istanbul is destroyed?....
God save Turkey.....
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An earthquake expert said that an earthquake with this magnitude should not usually cause any deaths, but mud-brick houses and other buildings that are not resistant to earthquakes can cause so much death and destruction
Turkey, which is crossed by the Northern and Eastern Anatolian fault lines, suffers from frequent earthquakes.Turkey is fundamentally vulnerable to earthquakes because of its geographical location. The country sits between two huge tectonic plates, Eurasia and Africa/Arabia, which are inexorably grinding into one another, north to south.
The Anatolian plate, on which most of the Turkish landmass lies, is being squeezed westwards towards the Aegean Sea. Periodic movements happen along two main faults, the North Anatolian fault and the East Anatolian fault. The earthquake in Basyurt looks likely to have been triggered by movement on the eastern fault.
Many of the earthquake are minor, though a 7.4-magnitude tremor which hit the western city of Izmit in August 1999 killed more than 17,000 people. Istanbul is a city that's at risk from a significant earthquake at some point in the future.
This means safe building practices are essential in earthquake-prone areas.
Many of the losses in earthquake regions arise from non-compliance with earthquake building codes. Severe damage can be caused by relatively small earthquakes.
Poor quality buildings were also blamed for the high death toll then and there is still concern in Turkey's largest city, where seismologists predict a major earthquake will occur within the next few decades.
But ironically the poor quality buildings are always the excuses by the government after the earthquakes in Turkey. It seems that no action were taken after many earthquakes. Compared to Chile, Turkish government is not a responsible government, as being located at earthquake prone area, the strict building code for earthquake resistant buildings is important, and to be strictly enforced, especially at urban area. Is it because it was a Kurdish area? Should the government wait until Istanbul is destroyed?....
God save Turkey.....
Frequent Earthquakes?
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.
At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.
Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.
Minor earthquakes occur nearly constantly around the world in places like California and Alaska in the U.S., as well as in Guatemala. Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the Azores in Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, and Japan, but earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, including New York City, London, and Australia. Larger earthquakes occur less frequently, the relationship being exponential; for example, roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than magnitude 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. In the (low seismicity) United Kingdom, for example, it has been calculated that the average recurrences are: an earthquake of 3.7 - 4.6 every year, an earthquake of 4.7 - 5.5 every 10 years, and an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years. This is an example of the Gutenberg-Richter law.
According to US Geology Society(USGS),there's a 100 percent chance of an earthquake today. Though millions of persons may never experience an earthquake, they are very common occurrences on this planet. So today -- somewhere -- an earthquake will occur. It may be so light that only sensitive instruments will perceive its motion; it may shake houses, rattle windows, and displace small objects; or it may be sufficiently strong to cause property damage, death, and injury.
Most of the world's earthquakes (90%, and 81% of the largest) take place in the 40,000-km-long, horseshoe-shaped zone called the circum-Pacific seismic belt, also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, which for the most part bounds the Pacific Plate. This is the most probable location for today's earthquake. Massive earthquakes tend to occur along other plate boundaries, too, such as along the Himalayan Mountains But it could hit any location, because no region is entirely free of earthquakes
Cause of the Earthquake
Tectonic earthquakes will occur anywhere within the earth where there is sufficient stored elastic strain energy to drive fracture propagation along a fault plane. In the case of transform or convergent type plate boundaries, which form the largest fault surfaces on earth, they will move past each other smoothly and aseismically only if there are no irregularities or asperities along the boundary that increase the frictional resistance. Most boundaries do have such asperities and this leads to a form of stick-slip behaviour. Once the boundary has locked, continued relative motion between the plates leads to increasing stress and therefore, stored strain energy in the volume around the fault surface. This continues until the stress has risen sufficiently to break through the asperity, suddenly allowing sliding over the locked portion of the fault, releasing the stored energy. This energy is released as a combination of radiated elastic strain seismic waves, frictional heating of the fault surface, and cracking of the rock, thus causing an earthquake.
While most earthquakes are caused by movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, human activity can also produce earthquakes. Four main activities contribute to this phenomenon: constructing large dams and buildings, drilling and injecting liquid into wells, and by coal mining and oil drilling. Perhaps the best known example is the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China's Sichuan Province in May; this tremor resulted in 69,227 fatalities and is the 19th deadliest earthquake of all time. The Zipingpu Dam is believed to have fluctuated the pressure of the fault 1,650 feet (503 m) away; this pressure probably increased the power of the earthquake and accelerated the rate of movement for the fault. The greatest earthquake in Australia's history was also induced by humanity, through coal mining. The city of Newcastle was built over a large sector of coal mining areas. The earthquake was spawned from a fault which reactivated due to the millions of tonnes of rock removed in the mining process.
Earthquake cannot be accurately predicted, but it can be monitored by using scientific technique.
After Haiti Earthquake 2010 on 12-1-2010, the following significant earthquakes were reported :
* Magnitude 6.1 EASTERN TURKEY March 08, 2010
* Magnitude 6.8 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA March 05, 2010
* Magnitude 6.6 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE March 05, 2010
* Magnitude 6.4 South Taiwan,Kaohsiung city, March 04, 2010.
* Magnitude 8.8 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE February 27, 2010
* Magnitude 7.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN February 26, 2010
* Magnitude 6.9 CHINA-RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA BORDER REGION February 18, 2010
* Magnitude 5.9 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA February 04, 2010
Related article
1. USGS, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
2. Earthquake, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
3. Malaysian Meteorological Department, http://www.met.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=265&Itemid=367
At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.
Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.
Minor earthquakes occur nearly constantly around the world in places like California and Alaska in the U.S., as well as in Guatemala. Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the Azores in Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, and Japan, but earthquakes can occur almost anywhere, including New York City, London, and Australia. Larger earthquakes occur less frequently, the relationship being exponential; for example, roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than magnitude 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. In the (low seismicity) United Kingdom, for example, it has been calculated that the average recurrences are: an earthquake of 3.7 - 4.6 every year, an earthquake of 4.7 - 5.5 every 10 years, and an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years. This is an example of the Gutenberg-Richter law.
According to US Geology Society(USGS),there's a 100 percent chance of an earthquake today. Though millions of persons may never experience an earthquake, they are very common occurrences on this planet. So today -- somewhere -- an earthquake will occur. It may be so light that only sensitive instruments will perceive its motion; it may shake houses, rattle windows, and displace small objects; or it may be sufficiently strong to cause property damage, death, and injury.
Most of the world's earthquakes (90%, and 81% of the largest) take place in the 40,000-km-long, horseshoe-shaped zone called the circum-Pacific seismic belt, also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, which for the most part bounds the Pacific Plate. This is the most probable location for today's earthquake. Massive earthquakes tend to occur along other plate boundaries, too, such as along the Himalayan Mountains But it could hit any location, because no region is entirely free of earthquakes
Cause of the Earthquake
Tectonic earthquakes will occur anywhere within the earth where there is sufficient stored elastic strain energy to drive fracture propagation along a fault plane. In the case of transform or convergent type plate boundaries, which form the largest fault surfaces on earth, they will move past each other smoothly and aseismically only if there are no irregularities or asperities along the boundary that increase the frictional resistance. Most boundaries do have such asperities and this leads to a form of stick-slip behaviour. Once the boundary has locked, continued relative motion between the plates leads to increasing stress and therefore, stored strain energy in the volume around the fault surface. This continues until the stress has risen sufficiently to break through the asperity, suddenly allowing sliding over the locked portion of the fault, releasing the stored energy. This energy is released as a combination of radiated elastic strain seismic waves, frictional heating of the fault surface, and cracking of the rock, thus causing an earthquake.
While most earthquakes are caused by movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, human activity can also produce earthquakes. Four main activities contribute to this phenomenon: constructing large dams and buildings, drilling and injecting liquid into wells, and by coal mining and oil drilling. Perhaps the best known example is the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China's Sichuan Province in May; this tremor resulted in 69,227 fatalities and is the 19th deadliest earthquake of all time. The Zipingpu Dam is believed to have fluctuated the pressure of the fault 1,650 feet (503 m) away; this pressure probably increased the power of the earthquake and accelerated the rate of movement for the fault. The greatest earthquake in Australia's history was also induced by humanity, through coal mining. The city of Newcastle was built over a large sector of coal mining areas. The earthquake was spawned from a fault which reactivated due to the millions of tonnes of rock removed in the mining process.
Earthquake cannot be accurately predicted, but it can be monitored by using scientific technique.
After Haiti Earthquake 2010 on 12-1-2010, the following significant earthquakes were reported :
* Magnitude 6.1 EASTERN TURKEY March 08, 2010
* Magnitude 6.8 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA March 05, 2010
* Magnitude 6.6 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE March 05, 2010
* Magnitude 6.4 South Taiwan,Kaohsiung city, March 04, 2010.
* Magnitude 8.8 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE February 27, 2010
* Magnitude 7.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN February 26, 2010
* Magnitude 6.9 CHINA-RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA BORDER REGION February 18, 2010
* Magnitude 5.9 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA February 04, 2010
Related article
1. USGS, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
2. Earthquake, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
3. Malaysian Meteorological Department, http://www.met.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=265&Itemid=367
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Taiwan: Kaohsiung(高雄)
This time the earthquake is in Taiwan. On 4 March 2010 at about 01:20 UTC, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southern Taiwan. The epicenter of the quake was in the mountains northeast of the city of Kaohsiung at a depth of 5 km. No major damage was reported near the epicenter, a rural area hard hit in August by a deadly typhoon.
Seismologists and engineers say that the government's use of three building codes formulated to counter the threat of earthquakes may have spared the island from a death toll far higher than that now being revealed. Taiwan uses three construction codes - the government's own rules, those of mainland China, and one used by many foreign investors.
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Kaohsiung City
Kaohsiung (高雄) is a city located in southwestern Taiwan. It is enclosed by Kaohsiung County, and faces the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into eleven districts. The city is one of two special municipalities under administration of the Republic of China, which grants it the same status as a province. By the end of 2010 the city will be merged with Kaohsiung County to form a larger municipality.
Kaohsiung is the most densely populated and the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 1.5 million. It is a center for manufacturing, refining, shipbuilding, and other light and heavy industries. A major port, through which pass most of Taiwan's marine imports and exports, is located at the city but is not managed by the city government. An international airport, the terminal of Sun Yat-sen Freeway, and the railway stations of Western Line and Taiwan High Speed Rail, are also located in Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung is known for its harbor, although more for commercial than tourism reasons. Hence it is also known as the Harbor Capital (港都) of Taiwan.
The city is also home to Taiwan's navy.
Kaohsiung is divided into 11 administrative districts. Distinction between the districts are often not of great importance to an average visitor, but it is essential in looking for an address. They are roughly grouped by their characteristics.
Downtown
* Sinsing (新興區)
* Cianjin (前金區)
* Lingya (苓雅區)
The Old City
* Cijin (旗津區)
* Gushan (鼓山區)
* Yancheng (鹽埕區)
* Zuoying (左營區)
Outer Districts
* Sanmin (三民區)
* Nanzih(楠梓區)
* Cianjhen (前鎮區)
* Siaogang(小港區)
Kaohsiung County
Kaohsiung County (高雄縣) is a county in southern Taiwan that encloses but does not include Kaohsiung City. By the end of 2010 the county will be merged with Kaohsiung City to form a single municipality
Seismologists and engineers say that the government's use of three building codes formulated to counter the threat of earthquakes may have spared the island from a death toll far higher than that now being revealed. Taiwan uses three construction codes - the government's own rules, those of mainland China, and one used by many foreign investors.
View Larger Map
Kaohsiung City
Kaohsiung (高雄) is a city located in southwestern Taiwan. It is enclosed by Kaohsiung County, and faces the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into eleven districts. The city is one of two special municipalities under administration of the Republic of China, which grants it the same status as a province. By the end of 2010 the city will be merged with Kaohsiung County to form a larger municipality.
Kaohsiung is the most densely populated and the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population around 1.5 million. It is a center for manufacturing, refining, shipbuilding, and other light and heavy industries. A major port, through which pass most of Taiwan's marine imports and exports, is located at the city but is not managed by the city government. An international airport, the terminal of Sun Yat-sen Freeway, and the railway stations of Western Line and Taiwan High Speed Rail, are also located in Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung is known for its harbor, although more for commercial than tourism reasons. Hence it is also known as the Harbor Capital (港都) of Taiwan.
The city is also home to Taiwan's navy.
Kaohsiung is divided into 11 administrative districts. Distinction between the districts are often not of great importance to an average visitor, but it is essential in looking for an address. They are roughly grouped by their characteristics.
Downtown
* Sinsing (新興區)
* Cianjin (前金區)
* Lingya (苓雅區)
The Old City
* Cijin (旗津區)
* Gushan (鼓山區)
* Yancheng (鹽埕區)
* Zuoying (左營區)
Outer Districts
* Sanmin (三民區)
* Nanzih(楠梓區)
* Cianjhen (前鎮區)
* Siaogang(小港區)
Kaohsiung County
Kaohsiung County (高雄縣) is a county in southern Taiwan that encloses but does not include Kaohsiung City. By the end of 2010 the county will be merged with Kaohsiung City to form a single municipality
Friday, March 5, 2010
Taiwan(台灣)
This time the earthquake is in Taiwan. On 4 March 2010 at about 01:20 UTC, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southern Taiwan. Is the earth angry on mistreatment by human being, the movement of earth plates is now active. After Taiwan, will it be California or Padang, Indonesia?......There have been many earthquake above magnitude of 6 this year,more than 10 times....
The epicenter of the quake was in the mountains northeast of the city of Kaohsiung at a depth of 5 km. No major damage was reported near the epicenter, a rural area hard hit in August by a deadly typhoon.
Taiwan,also known as Formosa, is the largest island of the Republic of China (ROC) in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Since the end of World War II in 1945, the island group has been under the government of the Republic of China(中華民國).
The island of Taiwan lies some 180 kilometers off the southeastern coast of China, across the Taiwan Strait, and has an area of 35,801 km2 (13,822.8 sq mi). The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest.
Map of Taiwan
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Taiwan
Taiwan is a province of China, it is part of China. But the province is today ruled by Republic of China after they have defeated in the civil war. Taiwan was initially under military rule, it has now ruled by democratic elected government. Taiwan's rapid economic growth in the decades after World War II has transformed it into an advanced economy as one of the Four Asian Tigers. This economic rise is known as the Taiwan Miracle. It is categorized as an advanced economy by the IMF and high-income economy by the World Bank. Its technology industry plays a key role in the global economy. Taiwanese companies manufacture a large portion of the world's consumer electronics, although most of them are made in their factories in mainland China
The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform. Taiwan's diplomatic isolation and low birth rate are also major long-term challenges. Taiwan's birth rate of only 1.0 child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages and declining tax revenues. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.
Administration
According to the 1947 constitution, written before the ROC(Republic of China) government retreated to Taiwan, the highest level administrative division is the province, which includes special administrative regions, regions, and direct-controlled municipalities. However, in 1998 the only provincial government to remain fully functional under ROC jurisdiction, Taiwan Province, was streamlined, with most responsibility assumed by the central government and the county-level governments (the other existing provincial government, Fuchien, was streamlined much earlier). The ROC administers two provinces and two provincial level cities. Under ROC law, the area under ROC jurisdiction is officially called the "free area of the Republic of China
Taiwan Province is divided into 16 counties (縣; hsien) and 5 provincial cities (市; shih):
Chiayi County(嘉義縣), Changhua County(彰化縣), Hsinchu County(新竹縣), Hualien County(花蓮縣),Kaohsiung County(高雄縣),Miaoli County(苗栗縣),Nantou County(南投縣),Penghu County(澎湖縣), Pingtung County(屏東縣),Taichung County(台中縣),Tainan County (台南縣),Taipei County(台北縣),Taitung County (台東縣),Taoyuan County(桃園縣),Yilan County(宜蘭縣),Yunlin County(雲林縣)
The provincial municipalies are:
1. Chiayi City (嘉義市)
2. Hsinchu City (新竹市)
3. Keelung City (基隆市)
4. Taichung City (台中市)
5. Tainan City(台南市)
The cities of Taipei(台北市) and Kaohsiung(高雄市) are administered directly by the central government and are not part of Taiwan province, though the counties of the same name surrounding these cities are part of the province. Taipei(台北市)is the largest city in Taiwan, and the capital of Taiwan Province.
Fujian Province
Kinmen County(金門縣)
Lienchiang County(連江縣)
Early History
The island of Taiwan (excluding Penghu) was first populated by Austronesian people. It was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an influx of Han Chinese including Hakka immigrants from areas of Fujian and Guangdong of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. The Spanish also built a settlement in the north for a brief period, but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642.
Portuguese sailors, passing Taiwan in 1544, first jotted in a ship's log the name of the island "Ilha Formosa", meaning Beautiful Island. In 1582 the survivors of a Portuguese shipwreck spent ten weeks battling malaria and Aborigines before returning to Macau on a raft.
Dutch traders, in search of an Asian base first arrived on the island in 1623 to use the island as a base for Dutch commerce with Japan and the coastal areas of China. The Spanish and allies established a settlement at Santissima Trinidad, building Fort San Salvador on the northwest coast of Taiwan near Keelung in 1626 which they occupied until 1642 when they were driven out by a joint Dutch-Aborigine invasion force. They also built a fort in Tamsui (1628) but had already abandoned it by 1638. The Dutch later erected Fort Anthonio on the site in 1642, which still stands (now part of the Fort San Domingo museum complex).
Dutch Rule(1624-1662)
Dutch Formosa refers to the period of colonial Dutch government on Formosa (now known as Taiwan), lasting from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Taiwan to trade with China and Japan, and also to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) administered the island and its predominantly aboriginal population until 1662, setting up a tax system, schools to teach romanized script of aboriginal languages and evangelizing. Although its control was mainly limited to the western plain of the island, the Dutch systems were adopted by succeeding occupiers. The first influx of migrants from coastal Fujian came during the Dutch period, in which merchants and traders from the mainland Chinese coast sought to purchase hunting licenses from the Dutch or hide out in aboriginal villages to escape the Qing authorities. Most of the immigrants were young single males who were discouraged from staying on the island often referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers
The time of Dutch rule saw economic development in Taiwan, including both large-scale hunting of deer and the cultivation of rice and sugar by imported labour from Fujian in China. The government also attempted to convert the aboriginal inhabitants to Christianity and suppress some cultural activities they found disagreeable (such as forced abortion and habitual nakedness), in other words, to "civilise" the inhabitants of the island.
However, they were not universally welcomed and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han Chinese arrivals were crushed brutally by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. The colonial period was brought to an end by the invasion of Koxinga's army after just 37 years.
Kingdom of Tungning
The Kingdom of Tungning was a Han Chinese government which ruled Taiwan, between 1661 and 1683. It was a pro-Ming Dynasty kingdom, and was founded by Koxinga (國姓爺), literally Lord with the Imperial Surname, because he was given the Ming Emperor's Surname), after the destruction of Ming power by the Manchu. Koxinga was son of a former merchant who styled himself as a Ming Dynasty loyalist; he hoped to marshal his troops on Taiwan and use it as a base to regain mainland China for the Ming Dynasty.
The Kingdom of Tungning (simplified Chinese: 东宁王国; traditional Chinese: 東寧王國; pinyin: Dōngníng Wángguó) is also sometimes called the Kingdom of Zheng (Cheng) (simplified Chinese: 郑氏王朝; traditional Chinese: 鄭氏王朝; pinyin: Zhèngshì Wángcháo) or the Kingdom of Yanping (延平王國). Admiral Koxinga called Taiwan Tungtu/Dongdu. It has been called in western histories the Kingdom of Taiwan, and the period of rule is sometimes referred to as the Koxinga dynasty.
In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of Southern Fujian, the Qing formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province.
Qing Dynasty(1662 - 1895)
The Chinese Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan from 1683 to 1895. Qing China in 1683 sent an army led by general Shi Lang and annexed Taiwan. The early Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan passively. Taiwan was governed as part of Fujian province at the time. In 1885, the Qing upgraded Taiwan's status from prefecture of Fujian to full province, the twentieth in the country, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building Taiwan's first railroad and starting a postal service.
The Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa (台湾民主国), Democratic State of Taiwan, also known informally in English as the Formosan Republic, Taiwan Republic or Republic of Taiwan was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its invasion and occupation by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was occupied by the Japanese.
When the news of the treaty's contents reached Taiwan, a number of notables from central Taiwan led by Chiu Feng-chia (丘逢甲) decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa. T'ang Ching-sung (唐景崧), the Ch'ing governor-general of Taiwan, was prevailed upon to become the republic's first President, and his old friend Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), the retired Black Flag Army commander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. Chiu Feng-chia was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese. On the Chinese mainland Chang Chih-tung (張之洞), the powerful governor-general of Liangkiang, tacitly supported the Formosan resistance movement, and the Republicans also appointed Ch'en Chi-t'ung (陳季同), a disgraced Chinese diplomat who understood European ways of thinking, as the Republic's foreign minister. His job would be to sell the Republic abroad.
Japanese Rule(1895-1945)
The Japanese colonial period, Japanese rule in the context of Taiwan's history, refers to the period between 1895 and 1945 during which Taiwan was a Japanese colony. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century.
As Taiwan was Japan's first overseas colony, Japanese intentions were to turn the island into a showpiece "model colony". As a result, much effort was made to improve the island's economy, industry, public works and culture. However, Japanese rule of Taiwan also had a negative side, such as the prostitution of Taiwanese women as comfort women.
Japan had sought to expand its imperial control over Taiwan (known in Japan as Takasago Koku (高砂国, "Highland nation") since 1592, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi undertook a policy of overseas expansion and extending Japanese influence southward. Several attempts to invade Taiwan were unsuccessful, mainly due to disease and armed resistance by aborigines on the island. In 1609, the Tokugawa Shogunate sent Haruno Arima on an exploratory mission of the island. In 1616, Murayama Toan led an unsuccessful invasion of the island.
In November 1871, 69 people on board a vessel from the Kingdom of Ryukyu were forced to land near the southern tip of Taiwan by strong winds. They had a conflict with local Paiwan aborigines and many were killed in the process. In October 1872, Japan sought compensation from the Qing Dynasty of China, claiming the Kingdom of Ryukyu was part of Japan. In May 1873, Japanese diplomats arrived in Beijing and put forward their claims, but the Qing government immediately rejected Japanese demands on the ground that the Kingdom of Ryukyu at that time was an independent state and had nothing to do with Japan. The Japanese refused to leave and asked if the Chinese government would punish those "barbarians in Taiwan".
The First Sino-Japanese War broke out between Qing Dynasty China and Japan in 1894 following a dispute over the sovereignty of Korea. Following its defeat, China ceded the islands of Taiwan and Penghu to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed on April 17, 1895. According to the terms of the treaty, Taiwan, Penghu, and regions between 119˚E-120˚E and 13˚N-14˚N were to be ceded to Japan in perpetuity. Both governments were to send representatives to Taiwan immediately after signing to begin the transition process, which was to be completed in no more than two months. Because Taiwan was ceded by treaty, the period that followed is referred to by some as the "colonial period", while others who focus on the fact that it was the culmination of a war refer to it as the "occupation period".
The new Japanese colonial government gave inhabitants two years to choose whether to accept their new status as Japanese subjects, or leave Taiwan. The Japanese occupation were divided into 3 periods:
(i) Early years (1895-1915)
(ii) Dōka: "Integration" (1915-1937)
(iii)Kōminka: "Subjects of the Emperor" (1937-1945)
The KMT(1945-1987)
In 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated from mainland China and the ROC(Republic of China) government fled from Nanjing (then romanised as "Nanking") to Taipei, Taiwan's largest city, while continuing to claim sovereignty over all China, which the ROC defines to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. In mainland China, the victorious Communists established the PRC(People Repblic of China), claiming to be the sole representative of China (which it claimed included Taiwan) and portraying the ROC government as an illegitimate entity. Taiwan was governed by a party-state dictatorship, with the KMT as the ruling party, and military rule continued.
Chiang Kai-shek's eventual successor, his son Chiang Ching-kuo, began to liberalize Taiwan's political system. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, an ethnically Taiwanese technocrat, to be his vice president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in Taiwan to counter the KMT. A year later Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law.
Modern Democratic Era(1987-until now)
After the 1988 death of Chiang Ching-Kuo, President Lee Teng-hui became the first ethnically Taiwanese president of the ROC. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity.
In the 1990s, the ROC continued its democratic reforms, as President Lee Teng-hui was elected by the first popular vote held in Taiwan during the 1996 Presidential election. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, was elected as the first non-KMT President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favoring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favoring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwan independence. Obviously China is not happy with the development, and she is against independent of Taiwan, as Taiwan is part of China, a historical fact.
On September 30, 2007, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party approved a resolution asserting separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the island's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.
The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth, and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial". Ma took office on May 20, 2008. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stem from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization.
Reunification
Taiwan as an island is insignificant to China on the land size, but a significant historical wound in the history of China. Like a mother lost her child for a long years. Recent development in economical cooperation between the two civil war rival groups is a positive sign for reconciliation, and a positive development to re-unification. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)has two chances in history, as hero of unification or miss the opportunity to have his name acknowledged as hero in China history. It is the same with President Hu Jintao(胡锦涛) of People Republic of China, if Germany can do it, why not China; and there is no opposition for German reunification. It is a home affair, the view of external parties is immaterial, as that is the wishes of Chinese people. Reunification is a natural and logical process for a separate civil war rivals. The unification will make some stakeholders uneasy and worry, the green camp and their agenda for independence, Japan which fear a strong neighbor, and USA for their political agenda. Others will welcome reunification for peace in the region. That the wall of separation fall, and a bold step forward by both leaders. Without external interference, reunification will be easy....
Taiwan has always been a wild card in the political and diplomatic games of America; like Tibet, America used the island as their Asia strategy against China, for hidden political reason know very well to themselves. They recognized the sovereign ownership of China over Taiwan, yet supplied arms to Taiwan for defense, a dichotomy in their foreign relationship. It has been played by each US President, whenever their popularity dropped in their country. A hypocritical approach not appropriate for a democracy advocate. Obviously, it is a political games, with no sincerity in recognize China's right on sovereign ownership. Taiwan issue is a domestic political issue, consequence of civil war. But the interference of USA by supplying arms revealed USA is a violation and betrayal of friendly USA-China relationship. A hypocrites with ultimate agenda for independence of Taiwan.........the arm sale need to be nation to nation basis, if the arm sale is to sub-national units, it is clear sign of political support for independence. The arm sale is not solely for business..... it is power games to control the East Asia.
Taiwan is an amazing island, for its economical development, and for its contribution to science and IT. But despite turning to multiparty democracy, the development in politic is her greatest challenge, the other being the unknown future status of Taiwan. For recent earthquake, Taiwan is able to overcome, as in previous earthquakes.
The epicenter of the quake was in the mountains northeast of the city of Kaohsiung at a depth of 5 km. No major damage was reported near the epicenter, a rural area hard hit in August by a deadly typhoon.
Taiwan,also known as Formosa, is the largest island of the Republic of China (ROC) in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Since the end of World War II in 1945, the island group has been under the government of the Republic of China(中華民國).
The island of Taiwan lies some 180 kilometers off the southeastern coast of China, across the Taiwan Strait, and has an area of 35,801 km2 (13,822.8 sq mi). The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest.
Map of Taiwan
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Taiwan
Taiwan is a province of China, it is part of China. But the province is today ruled by Republic of China after they have defeated in the civil war. Taiwan was initially under military rule, it has now ruled by democratic elected government. Taiwan's rapid economic growth in the decades after World War II has transformed it into an advanced economy as one of the Four Asian Tigers. This economic rise is known as the Taiwan Miracle. It is categorized as an advanced economy by the IMF and high-income economy by the World Bank. Its technology industry plays a key role in the global economy. Taiwanese companies manufacture a large portion of the world's consumer electronics, although most of them are made in their factories in mainland China
The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform. Taiwan's diplomatic isolation and low birth rate are also major long-term challenges. Taiwan's birth rate of only 1.0 child per woman is among the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages and declining tax revenues. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are the world's fourth largest, behind China, Japan, and Russia. The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.
Administration
According to the 1947 constitution, written before the ROC(Republic of China) government retreated to Taiwan, the highest level administrative division is the province, which includes special administrative regions, regions, and direct-controlled municipalities. However, in 1998 the only provincial government to remain fully functional under ROC jurisdiction, Taiwan Province, was streamlined, with most responsibility assumed by the central government and the county-level governments (the other existing provincial government, Fuchien, was streamlined much earlier). The ROC administers two provinces and two provincial level cities. Under ROC law, the area under ROC jurisdiction is officially called the "free area of the Republic of China
Taiwan Province is divided into 16 counties (縣; hsien) and 5 provincial cities (市; shih):
Chiayi County(嘉義縣), Changhua County(彰化縣), Hsinchu County(新竹縣), Hualien County(花蓮縣),Kaohsiung County(高雄縣),Miaoli County(苗栗縣),Nantou County(南投縣),Penghu County(澎湖縣), Pingtung County(屏東縣),Taichung County(台中縣),Tainan County (台南縣),Taipei County(台北縣),Taitung County (台東縣),Taoyuan County(桃園縣),Yilan County(宜蘭縣),Yunlin County(雲林縣)
The provincial municipalies are:
1. Chiayi City (嘉義市)
2. Hsinchu City (新竹市)
3. Keelung City (基隆市)
4. Taichung City (台中市)
5. Tainan City(台南市)
The cities of Taipei(台北市) and Kaohsiung(高雄市) are administered directly by the central government and are not part of Taiwan province, though the counties of the same name surrounding these cities are part of the province. Taipei(台北市)is the largest city in Taiwan, and the capital of Taiwan Province.
Fujian Province
Kinmen County(金門縣)
Lienchiang County(連江縣)
Early History
The island of Taiwan (excluding Penghu) was first populated by Austronesian people. It was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an influx of Han Chinese including Hakka immigrants from areas of Fujian and Guangdong of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. The Spanish also built a settlement in the north for a brief period, but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642.
Portuguese sailors, passing Taiwan in 1544, first jotted in a ship's log the name of the island "Ilha Formosa", meaning Beautiful Island. In 1582 the survivors of a Portuguese shipwreck spent ten weeks battling malaria and Aborigines before returning to Macau on a raft.
Dutch traders, in search of an Asian base first arrived on the island in 1623 to use the island as a base for Dutch commerce with Japan and the coastal areas of China. The Spanish and allies established a settlement at Santissima Trinidad, building Fort San Salvador on the northwest coast of Taiwan near Keelung in 1626 which they occupied until 1642 when they were driven out by a joint Dutch-Aborigine invasion force. They also built a fort in Tamsui (1628) but had already abandoned it by 1638. The Dutch later erected Fort Anthonio on the site in 1642, which still stands (now part of the Fort San Domingo museum complex).
Dutch Rule(1624-1662)
Dutch Formosa refers to the period of colonial Dutch government on Formosa (now known as Taiwan), lasting from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Taiwan to trade with China and Japan, and also to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) administered the island and its predominantly aboriginal population until 1662, setting up a tax system, schools to teach romanized script of aboriginal languages and evangelizing. Although its control was mainly limited to the western plain of the island, the Dutch systems were adopted by succeeding occupiers. The first influx of migrants from coastal Fujian came during the Dutch period, in which merchants and traders from the mainland Chinese coast sought to purchase hunting licenses from the Dutch or hide out in aboriginal villages to escape the Qing authorities. Most of the immigrants were young single males who were discouraged from staying on the island often referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers
The time of Dutch rule saw economic development in Taiwan, including both large-scale hunting of deer and the cultivation of rice and sugar by imported labour from Fujian in China. The government also attempted to convert the aboriginal inhabitants to Christianity and suppress some cultural activities they found disagreeable (such as forced abortion and habitual nakedness), in other words, to "civilise" the inhabitants of the island.
However, they were not universally welcomed and uprisings by both aborigines and recent Han Chinese arrivals were crushed brutally by the Dutch military on more than one occasion. The colonial period was brought to an end by the invasion of Koxinga's army after just 37 years.
Kingdom of Tungning
The Kingdom of Tungning was a Han Chinese government which ruled Taiwan, between 1661 and 1683. It was a pro-Ming Dynasty kingdom, and was founded by Koxinga (國姓爺), literally Lord with the Imperial Surname, because he was given the Ming Emperor's Surname), after the destruction of Ming power by the Manchu. Koxinga was son of a former merchant who styled himself as a Ming Dynasty loyalist; he hoped to marshal his troops on Taiwan and use it as a base to regain mainland China for the Ming Dynasty.
The Kingdom of Tungning (simplified Chinese: 东宁王国; traditional Chinese: 東寧王國; pinyin: Dōngníng Wángguó) is also sometimes called the Kingdom of Zheng (Cheng) (simplified Chinese: 郑氏王朝; traditional Chinese: 鄭氏王朝; pinyin: Zhèngshì Wángcháo) or the Kingdom of Yanping (延平王國). Admiral Koxinga called Taiwan Tungtu/Dongdu. It has been called in western histories the Kingdom of Taiwan, and the period of rule is sometimes referred to as the Koxinga dynasty.
In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang of Southern Fujian, the Qing formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province.
Qing Dynasty(1662 - 1895)
The Chinese Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan from 1683 to 1895. Qing China in 1683 sent an army led by general Shi Lang and annexed Taiwan. The early Qing Dynasty ruled Taiwan passively. Taiwan was governed as part of Fujian province at the time. In 1885, the Qing upgraded Taiwan's status from prefecture of Fujian to full province, the twentieth in the country, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building Taiwan's first railroad and starting a postal service.
The Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa (台湾民主国), Democratic State of Taiwan, also known informally in English as the Formosan Republic, Taiwan Republic or Republic of Taiwan was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its invasion and occupation by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was occupied by the Japanese.
When the news of the treaty's contents reached Taiwan, a number of notables from central Taiwan led by Chiu Feng-chia (丘逢甲) decided to resist the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese rule. On 23 May, in Taipei, these men declared independence, proclaiming the establishment of a free and democratic Republic of Formosa. T'ang Ching-sung (唐景崧), the Ch'ing governor-general of Taiwan, was prevailed upon to become the republic's first President, and his old friend Liu Yung-fu (劉永福), the retired Black Flag Army commander who had become a national hero in China for his victories against the French in northern Vietnam a decade earlier, was invited to serve as Grand General of the Army. Chiu Feng-chia was appointed Grand Commander of Militia, with the power to raise local militia units throughout the island to resist the Japanese. On the Chinese mainland Chang Chih-tung (張之洞), the powerful governor-general of Liangkiang, tacitly supported the Formosan resistance movement, and the Republicans also appointed Ch'en Chi-t'ung (陳季同), a disgraced Chinese diplomat who understood European ways of thinking, as the Republic's foreign minister. His job would be to sell the Republic abroad.
Japanese Rule(1895-1945)
The Japanese colonial period, Japanese rule in the context of Taiwan's history, refers to the period between 1895 and 1945 during which Taiwan was a Japanese colony. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century.
As Taiwan was Japan's first overseas colony, Japanese intentions were to turn the island into a showpiece "model colony". As a result, much effort was made to improve the island's economy, industry, public works and culture. However, Japanese rule of Taiwan also had a negative side, such as the prostitution of Taiwanese women as comfort women.
Japan had sought to expand its imperial control over Taiwan (known in Japan as Takasago Koku (高砂国, "Highland nation") since 1592, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi undertook a policy of overseas expansion and extending Japanese influence southward. Several attempts to invade Taiwan were unsuccessful, mainly due to disease and armed resistance by aborigines on the island. In 1609, the Tokugawa Shogunate sent Haruno Arima on an exploratory mission of the island. In 1616, Murayama Toan led an unsuccessful invasion of the island.
In November 1871, 69 people on board a vessel from the Kingdom of Ryukyu were forced to land near the southern tip of Taiwan by strong winds. They had a conflict with local Paiwan aborigines and many were killed in the process. In October 1872, Japan sought compensation from the Qing Dynasty of China, claiming the Kingdom of Ryukyu was part of Japan. In May 1873, Japanese diplomats arrived in Beijing and put forward their claims, but the Qing government immediately rejected Japanese demands on the ground that the Kingdom of Ryukyu at that time was an independent state and had nothing to do with Japan. The Japanese refused to leave and asked if the Chinese government would punish those "barbarians in Taiwan".
The First Sino-Japanese War broke out between Qing Dynasty China and Japan in 1894 following a dispute over the sovereignty of Korea. Following its defeat, China ceded the islands of Taiwan and Penghu to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed on April 17, 1895. According to the terms of the treaty, Taiwan, Penghu, and regions between 119˚E-120˚E and 13˚N-14˚N were to be ceded to Japan in perpetuity. Both governments were to send representatives to Taiwan immediately after signing to begin the transition process, which was to be completed in no more than two months. Because Taiwan was ceded by treaty, the period that followed is referred to by some as the "colonial period", while others who focus on the fact that it was the culmination of a war refer to it as the "occupation period".
The new Japanese colonial government gave inhabitants two years to choose whether to accept their new status as Japanese subjects, or leave Taiwan. The Japanese occupation were divided into 3 periods:
(i) Early years (1895-1915)
(ii) Dōka: "Integration" (1915-1937)
(iii)Kōminka: "Subjects of the Emperor" (1937-1945)
The KMT(1945-1987)
In 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated from mainland China and the ROC(Republic of China) government fled from Nanjing (then romanised as "Nanking") to Taipei, Taiwan's largest city, while continuing to claim sovereignty over all China, which the ROC defines to include mainland China, Taiwan, Outer Mongolia and other areas. In mainland China, the victorious Communists established the PRC(People Repblic of China), claiming to be the sole representative of China (which it claimed included Taiwan) and portraying the ROC government as an illegitimate entity. Taiwan was governed by a party-state dictatorship, with the KMT as the ruling party, and military rule continued.
Chiang Kai-shek's eventual successor, his son Chiang Ching-kuo, began to liberalize Taiwan's political system. In 1984, the younger Chiang selected Lee Teng-hui, an ethnically Taiwanese technocrat, to be his vice president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed and inaugurated as the first opposition party in Taiwan to counter the KMT. A year later Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law.
Modern Democratic Era(1987-until now)
After the 1988 death of Chiang Ching-Kuo, President Lee Teng-hui became the first ethnically Taiwanese president of the ROC. Lee continued to democratize the government and decrease the concentration of government authority in the hands of mainland Chinese. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint in contrast to earlier KMT policies which had promoted a Chinese identity.
In the 1990s, the ROC continued its democratic reforms, as President Lee Teng-hui was elected by the first popular vote held in Taiwan during the 1996 Presidential election. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, was elected as the first non-KMT President and was re-elected to serve his second and last term since 2004. Polarized politics has emerged in Taiwan with the formation of the Pan-Blue Coalition of parties led by the KMT, favoring eventual Chinese reunification, and the Pan-Green Coalition of parties led by the DPP, favoring an eventual and official declaration of Taiwan independence. Obviously China is not happy with the development, and she is against independent of Taiwan, as Taiwan is part of China, a historical fact.
On September 30, 2007, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party approved a resolution asserting separate identity from China and called for the enactment of a new constitution for a "normal country". It also called for general use of "Taiwan" as the island's name, without abolishing its formal name, the Republic of China.
The KMT increased its majority in the Legislative Yuan in the January 2008 legislative elections, while its nominee Ma Ying-jeou went on to win the presidency in March of the same year, campaigning on a platform of increased economic growth, and better ties with the PRC under a policy of "mutual nondenial". Ma took office on May 20, 2008. Part of the rationale for campaigning for closer economic ties with the PRC stem from the strong economic growth China attained since joining the World Trade Organization.
Reunification
Taiwan as an island is insignificant to China on the land size, but a significant historical wound in the history of China. Like a mother lost her child for a long years. Recent development in economical cooperation between the two civil war rival groups is a positive sign for reconciliation, and a positive development to re-unification. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)has two chances in history, as hero of unification or miss the opportunity to have his name acknowledged as hero in China history. It is the same with President Hu Jintao(胡锦涛) of People Republic of China, if Germany can do it, why not China; and there is no opposition for German reunification. It is a home affair, the view of external parties is immaterial, as that is the wishes of Chinese people. Reunification is a natural and logical process for a separate civil war rivals. The unification will make some stakeholders uneasy and worry, the green camp and their agenda for independence, Japan which fear a strong neighbor, and USA for their political agenda. Others will welcome reunification for peace in the region. That the wall of separation fall, and a bold step forward by both leaders. Without external interference, reunification will be easy....
Taiwan has always been a wild card in the political and diplomatic games of America; like Tibet, America used the island as their Asia strategy against China, for hidden political reason know very well to themselves. They recognized the sovereign ownership of China over Taiwan, yet supplied arms to Taiwan for defense, a dichotomy in their foreign relationship. It has been played by each US President, whenever their popularity dropped in their country. A hypocritical approach not appropriate for a democracy advocate. Obviously, it is a political games, with no sincerity in recognize China's right on sovereign ownership. Taiwan issue is a domestic political issue, consequence of civil war. But the interference of USA by supplying arms revealed USA is a violation and betrayal of friendly USA-China relationship. A hypocrites with ultimate agenda for independence of Taiwan.........the arm sale need to be nation to nation basis, if the arm sale is to sub-national units, it is clear sign of political support for independence. The arm sale is not solely for business..... it is power games to control the East Asia.
Taiwan is an amazing island, for its economical development, and for its contribution to science and IT. But despite turning to multiparty democracy, the development in politic is her greatest challenge, the other being the unknown future status of Taiwan. For recent earthquake, Taiwan is able to overcome, as in previous earthquakes.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Chile Vs Haitian earthquakes
The Chilean earthquake was the second catastrophe to hit Latin America this year, following the disaster in Haiti - yet the death toll remains mercifully low by comparison. The 8.8 magnitude of the Chile quake made it 500 times more powerful than the one in Haiti, which had a magnitude of 7.0. As of Sunday(28-2-2010), the death toll from the earthquake in southern Chile stood at about 700. By comparison, the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti killed about 230,000 people,as reported by the Haitian government. Why?
Readiness: Chile was more prepared
Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.
Epicenter - Chile earthquake is off shore
Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface — about 8 miles (13 kilometers) — and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness.
"Earthquakes don't kill — they don't create damage — if there's nothing to damage," said Eric Calais, a Purdue University geophysicist studying the Haiti quake.
Building Code - Chile is strict on earthquake resistant
The U.S. Geological Survey says eight Haitian cities and towns — including this capital of 3 million — suffered "violent" to "extreme" shaking in last month's 7-magnitude quake, which Haiti's government estimates killed some 220,000 people and left about 1.2 homeless. Chile's death toll was in the hundreds.
By contrast, no Chilean urban area suffered more than "severe" shaking — the third most serious level — Saturday in its 8.8-magnitude disaster, by USGS measure. The quake was centered 200 miles (325 kms) away from Chile's capital and largest city, Santiago.
Chile has been building according to the best standards in the world for at least 20 years," García says. "As the technology and techniques have gotten better, the rules have gotten stricter. And that's what has minimized the loss of life this time around."
Chile sits on the so-called "ring of fire," a system of geological faults that circles the Pacific Ocean, and is frequently rattled by earthquakes. In 1906, a magnitude-8.6 quake near Valparaiso killed 20,000 people. A magnitude-7.8 quake near Chillan killed 28,000 people in 1939.
The quake on May 22, 1960, near Valdivia shattered the records for the strongest quake ever. With a magnitude of 9.5, it sent tsunami waves racing through the Pacific to as far away as Japan and the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. About 5,000 people were killed.
After that quake, Chile imposed strict rules about the quality of building materials, García says. It also invested heavily in research to find weak points in the soil under major cities.
"Chile has one of the most modern building codes in the world, and now we're seeing how the rules pay off," says Juan Felipe Heredia, a Mexican civil engineer who has designed buildings in South America.
"When you look at the architecture in Chile you see buildings that have damage, but not the complete pancaking that you've got in Haiti," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a 10-year-old nonprofit that has helped people in 36 countries rebuild after disasters. Sinclair said he has architect colleagues in Chile who have built thousands of low-income housing structures to be earthquake resistant.
In Haiti, by contrast, there is no building code. Patrick Midy, a leading Haitian architect, said he knew of only three earthquake-resistant buildings in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
Economical Strength
Chile's economic strength also gives it an advantage. It is the wealthiest country in Latin America, with a per-capita income of $14,700. Chileans, on the other hand, have homes and offices built to ride out quakes, their steel skeletons designed to sway with seismic waves rather than resist them. Haiti on other hand is the poorest nation in America.
Energy release
In terms of energy released at the epicenter, the Chilean quake was 501 times stronger. But energy dissipates rather quickly as distances grow from epicenters — and the ground beneath Port-au-Prince is less stable by comparison and "shakes like jelly," says University of Miami geologist Tim Dixon.
Panic
Survivors of Haiti's quake described abject panic — much of it well-founded as buildings imploded around them. Many Haitians grabbed cement pillars only to watch them crumble in their hands. Haitians were not schooled in how to react — by sheltering under tables and door frames, and away from glass windows.
Professionalism - No of Seismologists
Sinclair's San Francisco-based organization received 400 requests for help the day after the Haiti quake but he said it had yet to receive a single request for help for Chile.
"On a per-capita basis, Chile has more world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers than anywhere else," said Brian E. Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.
Responsible Government
The professional advice from seismologists and earthquake engineers are heeded by the Chile government, which is Latin America's wealthiest nation, getting built not just into architects' blueprints and building codes but also into government contingency planning.
The fact that the president (Michelle Bachelet) was out giving minute-to-minute reports a few hours after the quake in the middle of the night gives you an indication of their disaster responsiveness.
Most Haitians didn't know whether their president, Rene Preval, was alive or dead for at least a day after the quake. The National Palace and his residence — like most government buildings — had collapsed. There was no direction from the President, or even the next in command of the nation. Haiti's TV, cell phone networks and radio stations were knocked off the air by the seismic jolt.
Urban Density
The construction in Haiti is absolutely appalling - it wasn't recognised by the Haitians as an area at risk from earthquakes."So they didn't have any motivation to build safe buildings."And because the country is so poor they didn't have any resources to do so anyway
Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, was crammed with three million human beings, and is one of the most densely populated areas in the western hemisphere.Haiti had not felt such a devastating earthquake in living memory, though it had suffered a number of smaller tremors over the years.
Earthquake Experience
Chile has experienced numerous powerful quakes over its history, including the most powerful earthquake in the world, striking with a magnitude of 9.5 in May 1960. Chile, as a result of suffering from frequent serious earthquakes throughout its history, has learned many lessons about building quake-proof structures. Chilean quake hit outside any populated centres. Economically wise, Chile is better than Haiti. Chile is South America's most stable and prosperous country.
Calais, the geologist, noted that frequent seismic activity is as common to Chile as it is to the rest of the Andean ridge. Chile experienced the strongest earthquake on record in 1960, and Saturday's quake was the nation's third of over magnitude-8.7.
"It's quite likely that every person there has felt a major earthquake in their lifetime," he said, "whereas the last one to hit Port-au-Prince was 250 years ago."
Worry of US professionals
Chile offers more lessons for U.S. planners than Haiti does, McNutt says, given similarities in building codes and earthquake awareness. Although the U.S. has made preparations more stringently than anywhere else, McNutt sees an Achilles' heel in the aging U.S. infrastructure of bridges and overpasses.
"I look at the reports of collapsing bridges and highways in Chile and worry what would happen here," she says.
In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers warned that 26% of the nation's bridges "are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." The engineers' report, based on Department of Transportation figures, showed that one in three urban bridges are either broken or obsolete, and suggested a $17 billion yearly shortfall in maintenance spending nationwide.
"Clearly infrastructure is a legitimate worry," says geotechnical earthquake engineer John Christian of Waban, Mass., a member of the National Academy of Engineering. "Engineers worry that we have plenty of buildings that fall down on their own, even without earthquakes."
California's San Andreas fault poses a much-worried threat. Californians have focused on preparing for a Big One for more than a century, since a 1906 quake in Northern California motivated people to take the hazard seriously, says Susan Hough, geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena. A 1933 quake centered at Long Beach led to passage a year later of tougher building requirements for schools.
"Since that time, the building codes have continued to evolve as we learn more about what buildings are dangerous and how the ground shakes under earthquakes," she says.
State and local building codes have prevented new construction of the most vulnerable building styles, unreinforced brick or concrete structures, she says. The 1994 Northridge earthquake in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles exposed weaknesses in steel welds and buildings.
Now the biggest worry is widespread use of apartments built atop ground-level parking, with supporting poles that can give way in a quake of sufficient size, she says.
"People may be complacent about California," Hough says. "We haven't really seen a big earthquake that really tests the infrastructure."
Such a big quake may be overdue in the heavily populated Southern California region, says Jim Goltz, earthquake and tsunami program manager for the California Emergency Management Agency.
"We have hundreds of faults in Southern California, and we could have a really large earthquake on any of them," Goltz says.
Officials in California are also focusing on non-structural hazards that can be deadly in big quakes, such as big-screen televisions, water heaters, furniture and bookshelves that can become missiles in violent quakes.
This Oct. 21, California officials will hold their third annual "Great California Shakeout" event aimed at informing people what to do in such a quake. Their advice — "Drop, cover and hold on" — suggests people take cover under furniture to protect themselves from flying objects.
The spate of recent earthquakes, starting with the magnitude-9.3 Indian Ocean event in 2004, follows a 50-year cycle of earthquake activity, said Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey. The last cycle, in the 1960s, produced the two other record holders for recorded earthquakes — the magnitude-9.5 quake near Valdivia and a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
"We know earthquakes are not uniformly distributed in time; they cluster," McNutt says. "Now suddenly the earthquakes are lighting up again."
Even with the knowledge that a Big One is inevitable, retrofitting buildings and requiring better building practices is a tough sell, even in parts of the country where quakes are facts of life, says Mark Benthien of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California.
"Improvements to our building codes have often followed the earthquakes that we have had," Benthien says. "They are very difficult to pass in other times."
A report commissioned recently by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that many of the deaths in Haiti's earthquake could have been prevented by using earthquake-resistant designs and construction, as well as improved quality control in concrete and masonry work of affected buildings.
"The massive human losses can be attributed to a lack of attention to earthquake-resistant design and construction practices, and the poor quality of much of the construction," according to the report. It added: "Indirect evidence suggests that the earthquake did not produce ground motions sufficient to severely damage well-engineered structures."
Chile shows that earthquake-resistant building codes don't mean that people will be able to return to buildings, "just that they won't fall on them," Christian adds. The unfolding scenario of millions of displaced Chileans would likely occur in the USA as well, after a major earthquake, he says.
"We could build things to completely survive earthquakes," Christian says. "They would all look like nuclear power plants. And cost as much."
No predictions are possible for when an earthquake will strike, but the pattern of recent events does worry U.S. planners. "It's not a matter of if, only of when an event like this strikes the people of the United States," says Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey. "Shame on us if we don't prepare."
Not only US, Chile Earthquake revealed that other nations have more to learn from Chile, to be prepare for the unknown. Indonesia, Philippines, China, other earthquake prone nations, and even nations which have not experienced earthquake in their history need to learn a lesson from Chile,the earth plates are moving, the Himalaya is moving, will the earthquake belt move and affect the non-earthquake belt nations?. I am not geologist, but I know anything can happen and there is no guarantee as disaster is natural act not predictable. The earth is changing and under pressure, anything can happen, beware.....be prepared.
Chile, their government stance on building code, develop a resource pool of Seismologists, and their expert views were seriously taken. The earthquake education and preparation, the government's stance and seriousness on earthquake impact risks, and a responsible government for the people which understand the geological risk of the country, were the factors that help Chile avoid great disaster. A respectable act of their government and people.
Related references/extract:
1. Compare: Chile Quake vs. Haiti Quake, Tale of two quakes - Chile quake ready, Haiti not, Text Story by Associated Press, http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/hot_stories/compare-chile-quake-haiti-quake-20100227
2.Chilean earthquake hints at dangers of 'Big One' for USA, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-01-chile-quake-lessons_N.htm
3. Latest updates: Disaster experts praise Chile quake response(2010),by MICHAEL WARREN (AP),dated 11-3-2010, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gftklhBTIA-_BbqbM2NnhvJDhW8QD9EC2FSO0
Readiness: Chile was more prepared
Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.
Epicenter - Chile earthquake is off shore
Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface — about 8 miles (13 kilometers) — and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness.
"Earthquakes don't kill — they don't create damage — if there's nothing to damage," said Eric Calais, a Purdue University geophysicist studying the Haiti quake.
Building Code - Chile is strict on earthquake resistant
The U.S. Geological Survey says eight Haitian cities and towns — including this capital of 3 million — suffered "violent" to "extreme" shaking in last month's 7-magnitude quake, which Haiti's government estimates killed some 220,000 people and left about 1.2 homeless. Chile's death toll was in the hundreds.
By contrast, no Chilean urban area suffered more than "severe" shaking — the third most serious level — Saturday in its 8.8-magnitude disaster, by USGS measure. The quake was centered 200 miles (325 kms) away from Chile's capital and largest city, Santiago.
Chile has been building according to the best standards in the world for at least 20 years," García says. "As the technology and techniques have gotten better, the rules have gotten stricter. And that's what has minimized the loss of life this time around."
Chile sits on the so-called "ring of fire," a system of geological faults that circles the Pacific Ocean, and is frequently rattled by earthquakes. In 1906, a magnitude-8.6 quake near Valparaiso killed 20,000 people. A magnitude-7.8 quake near Chillan killed 28,000 people in 1939.
The quake on May 22, 1960, near Valdivia shattered the records for the strongest quake ever. With a magnitude of 9.5, it sent tsunami waves racing through the Pacific to as far away as Japan and the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. About 5,000 people were killed.
After that quake, Chile imposed strict rules about the quality of building materials, García says. It also invested heavily in research to find weak points in the soil under major cities.
"Chile has one of the most modern building codes in the world, and now we're seeing how the rules pay off," says Juan Felipe Heredia, a Mexican civil engineer who has designed buildings in South America.
"When you look at the architecture in Chile you see buildings that have damage, but not the complete pancaking that you've got in Haiti," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a 10-year-old nonprofit that has helped people in 36 countries rebuild after disasters. Sinclair said he has architect colleagues in Chile who have built thousands of low-income housing structures to be earthquake resistant.
In Haiti, by contrast, there is no building code. Patrick Midy, a leading Haitian architect, said he knew of only three earthquake-resistant buildings in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
Economical Strength
Chile's economic strength also gives it an advantage. It is the wealthiest country in Latin America, with a per-capita income of $14,700. Chileans, on the other hand, have homes and offices built to ride out quakes, their steel skeletons designed to sway with seismic waves rather than resist them. Haiti on other hand is the poorest nation in America.
Energy release
In terms of energy released at the epicenter, the Chilean quake was 501 times stronger. But energy dissipates rather quickly as distances grow from epicenters — and the ground beneath Port-au-Prince is less stable by comparison and "shakes like jelly," says University of Miami geologist Tim Dixon.
Panic
Survivors of Haiti's quake described abject panic — much of it well-founded as buildings imploded around them. Many Haitians grabbed cement pillars only to watch them crumble in their hands. Haitians were not schooled in how to react — by sheltering under tables and door frames, and away from glass windows.
Professionalism - No of Seismologists
Sinclair's San Francisco-based organization received 400 requests for help the day after the Haiti quake but he said it had yet to receive a single request for help for Chile.
"On a per-capita basis, Chile has more world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers than anywhere else," said Brian E. Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.
Responsible Government
The professional advice from seismologists and earthquake engineers are heeded by the Chile government, which is Latin America's wealthiest nation, getting built not just into architects' blueprints and building codes but also into government contingency planning.
The fact that the president (Michelle Bachelet) was out giving minute-to-minute reports a few hours after the quake in the middle of the night gives you an indication of their disaster responsiveness.
Most Haitians didn't know whether their president, Rene Preval, was alive or dead for at least a day after the quake. The National Palace and his residence — like most government buildings — had collapsed. There was no direction from the President, or even the next in command of the nation. Haiti's TV, cell phone networks and radio stations were knocked off the air by the seismic jolt.
Urban Density
The construction in Haiti is absolutely appalling - it wasn't recognised by the Haitians as an area at risk from earthquakes."So they didn't have any motivation to build safe buildings."And because the country is so poor they didn't have any resources to do so anyway
Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, was crammed with three million human beings, and is one of the most densely populated areas in the western hemisphere.Haiti had not felt such a devastating earthquake in living memory, though it had suffered a number of smaller tremors over the years.
Earthquake Experience
Chile has experienced numerous powerful quakes over its history, including the most powerful earthquake in the world, striking with a magnitude of 9.5 in May 1960. Chile, as a result of suffering from frequent serious earthquakes throughout its history, has learned many lessons about building quake-proof structures. Chilean quake hit outside any populated centres. Economically wise, Chile is better than Haiti. Chile is South America's most stable and prosperous country.
Calais, the geologist, noted that frequent seismic activity is as common to Chile as it is to the rest of the Andean ridge. Chile experienced the strongest earthquake on record in 1960, and Saturday's quake was the nation's third of over magnitude-8.7.
"It's quite likely that every person there has felt a major earthquake in their lifetime," he said, "whereas the last one to hit Port-au-Prince was 250 years ago."
Worry of US professionals
Chile offers more lessons for U.S. planners than Haiti does, McNutt says, given similarities in building codes and earthquake awareness. Although the U.S. has made preparations more stringently than anywhere else, McNutt sees an Achilles' heel in the aging U.S. infrastructure of bridges and overpasses.
"I look at the reports of collapsing bridges and highways in Chile and worry what would happen here," she says.
In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers warned that 26% of the nation's bridges "are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." The engineers' report, based on Department of Transportation figures, showed that one in three urban bridges are either broken or obsolete, and suggested a $17 billion yearly shortfall in maintenance spending nationwide.
"Clearly infrastructure is a legitimate worry," says geotechnical earthquake engineer John Christian of Waban, Mass., a member of the National Academy of Engineering. "Engineers worry that we have plenty of buildings that fall down on their own, even without earthquakes."
California's San Andreas fault poses a much-worried threat. Californians have focused on preparing for a Big One for more than a century, since a 1906 quake in Northern California motivated people to take the hazard seriously, says Susan Hough, geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena. A 1933 quake centered at Long Beach led to passage a year later of tougher building requirements for schools.
"Since that time, the building codes have continued to evolve as we learn more about what buildings are dangerous and how the ground shakes under earthquakes," she says.
State and local building codes have prevented new construction of the most vulnerable building styles, unreinforced brick or concrete structures, she says. The 1994 Northridge earthquake in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles exposed weaknesses in steel welds and buildings.
Now the biggest worry is widespread use of apartments built atop ground-level parking, with supporting poles that can give way in a quake of sufficient size, she says.
"People may be complacent about California," Hough says. "We haven't really seen a big earthquake that really tests the infrastructure."
Such a big quake may be overdue in the heavily populated Southern California region, says Jim Goltz, earthquake and tsunami program manager for the California Emergency Management Agency.
"We have hundreds of faults in Southern California, and we could have a really large earthquake on any of them," Goltz says.
Officials in California are also focusing on non-structural hazards that can be deadly in big quakes, such as big-screen televisions, water heaters, furniture and bookshelves that can become missiles in violent quakes.
This Oct. 21, California officials will hold their third annual "Great California Shakeout" event aimed at informing people what to do in such a quake. Their advice — "Drop, cover and hold on" — suggests people take cover under furniture to protect themselves from flying objects.
The spate of recent earthquakes, starting with the magnitude-9.3 Indian Ocean event in 2004, follows a 50-year cycle of earthquake activity, said Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey. The last cycle, in the 1960s, produced the two other record holders for recorded earthquakes — the magnitude-9.5 quake near Valdivia and a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
"We know earthquakes are not uniformly distributed in time; they cluster," McNutt says. "Now suddenly the earthquakes are lighting up again."
Even with the knowledge that a Big One is inevitable, retrofitting buildings and requiring better building practices is a tough sell, even in parts of the country where quakes are facts of life, says Mark Benthien of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California.
"Improvements to our building codes have often followed the earthquakes that we have had," Benthien says. "They are very difficult to pass in other times."
A report commissioned recently by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that many of the deaths in Haiti's earthquake could have been prevented by using earthquake-resistant designs and construction, as well as improved quality control in concrete and masonry work of affected buildings.
"The massive human losses can be attributed to a lack of attention to earthquake-resistant design and construction practices, and the poor quality of much of the construction," according to the report. It added: "Indirect evidence suggests that the earthquake did not produce ground motions sufficient to severely damage well-engineered structures."
Chile shows that earthquake-resistant building codes don't mean that people will be able to return to buildings, "just that they won't fall on them," Christian adds. The unfolding scenario of millions of displaced Chileans would likely occur in the USA as well, after a major earthquake, he says.
"We could build things to completely survive earthquakes," Christian says. "They would all look like nuclear power plants. And cost as much."
No predictions are possible for when an earthquake will strike, but the pattern of recent events does worry U.S. planners. "It's not a matter of if, only of when an event like this strikes the people of the United States," says Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey. "Shame on us if we don't prepare."
Not only US, Chile Earthquake revealed that other nations have more to learn from Chile, to be prepare for the unknown. Indonesia, Philippines, China, other earthquake prone nations, and even nations which have not experienced earthquake in their history need to learn a lesson from Chile,the earth plates are moving, the Himalaya is moving, will the earthquake belt move and affect the non-earthquake belt nations?. I am not geologist, but I know anything can happen and there is no guarantee as disaster is natural act not predictable. The earth is changing and under pressure, anything can happen, beware.....be prepared.
Chile, their government stance on building code, develop a resource pool of Seismologists, and their expert views were seriously taken. The earthquake education and preparation, the government's stance and seriousness on earthquake impact risks, and a responsible government for the people which understand the geological risk of the country, were the factors that help Chile avoid great disaster. A respectable act of their government and people.
Related references/extract:
1. Compare: Chile Quake vs. Haiti Quake, Tale of two quakes - Chile quake ready, Haiti not, Text Story by Associated Press, http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/hot_stories/compare-chile-quake-haiti-quake-20100227
2.Chilean earthquake hints at dangers of 'Big One' for USA, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-01-chile-quake-lessons_N.htm
3. Latest updates: Disaster experts praise Chile quake response(2010),by MICHAEL WARREN (AP),dated 11-3-2010, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gftklhBTIA-_BbqbM2NnhvJDhW8QD9EC2FSO0
Chile: Concepción.
The VIII Biobío Region (Spanish: VIII Región del Biobío) is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions and comprises four provinces Arauco, Biobio, Concepción and Ñuble. Its capital is Concepción, other important cities include Chillan, Coronel, Hualpen, Los Angeles and Talcahuano.
The Concepcion province, one of the province of Biobio Region, is composed by 12 communes:
* Concepción
* Coronel
* Chiguayante
* Florida
* Hualpén
* Hualqui
* Lota
* Penco
* San Pedro de la Paz
* Santa Juana
* Talcahuano
* Tomé
Talcahuano, Lota, Cañete, Chiguayante are 4 of the cities in Concepcion Province affected by Chile Earthquake 2010. Arauco is from Arauco Province.
Conception city
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Concepción is the second largest city of Chile with a population of over 900,000 as of 2002. It is located on the coast of the Biobio Region.
The Gran Concepción or Greater Concepción is the name that receives the whole metropolitan area, which including Talcahuano, San Pedro de la Paz, Hualpén, Chiguayante, Penco, Tomé, Lota, Coronel, Hualqui and Concepción) is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants (2002 census). Individually, it is the 11th largest commune in the country, with a population of 212,003.
Despite Concepcion is the 2nd largest city in Chile, it is not clearly indicated in Goggle map ,only Talcahuano is clearly indicated,which may implied that Talcahuano is bigger than Concepcion. The Gran Concepcion is not clearly shown.
Map of Concepcion
View Larger Map
History
Concepción was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1550 north of the Bío-Bío River, at the site which is today known as Penco. At that time it was given the name Concepción del Nuevo Extremo.
More than once the city has been destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis. One in 1570, another on the 25 May 1751, at which point it was decided to move Concepción further from the sea to its present location in the Mocha Valley.
Due to earthquakes and tsunamis, which razed the town in 1570, 1657, 1687, 1730 and another on May 25, 1751, the authorities decided to move the town to its current location to the Valle de la Mocha, alongside the Bío-Bío River and prohibited the occupation of the old location, which remained unsettled until March 29, 1842, when the present town of Penco was founded.
The new site for the town of Concepción became the main town of the Intendancy of Concepción, whose jurisdiction extended from the Maule River to La Frontera. The first Intendant of Concepción was the Irishman Ambrose O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno, who later became Royal Governor of Chile and Viceroy of Peru.
When the First National Government Board met in Santiago on September 18, 1810, citizens of Concepción joined up. Concepcion was used as the point of entry by the Spanish Army in the attempt by the Viceroyalty of Peru to re-conquer Chile. Concepción politicians and soldiers became a significant political force in the newly-independent country.
On January 1, 1818, Ambrose O'Higgins's son, Bernardo O'Higgins, proclaimed and took the oath of the Chilean War of Independence in the main square of Concepción, which since then has been known as "Plaza de la Independencia". On February 20, 1835, the town again was largely destroyed by an earthquake and had to be rebuilt.
As of 2010, Concepción is the second largest city of Chile. The Universidad de Concepción, founded in 1919, became the first private university in Chile. The neighboring harbor of Talcahuano is the site of the largest naval base in Chile.
Education city
Concepción has the second largest concentration of universities in Chile, and is home to three major universities. The Universidad de Concepción, founded in 1919, and with its main campus in the city became the first private university in Chile.
Naval Base
The neighbouring harbour of Talcahuano holds the largest naval base in the country.
Rock Music capital
Concepción is one of the most active cities in Chilean rock music and many famous rock groups in Chile started up in Concepción.
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a municipality and port city in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the central zone of Chile. Together with ten other municipalities, it forms part of the Province of Concepción, which in turn is one of four provinces that forms the VIII Region or Biobío Region.
The municipality of Talcahuano has an area of 148.29 km² and, according to the 2002 Census, has a population of 250,348 inhabitants. With a population density of 1,873 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.
The official foundation date of Talcahuano is November 5, 1764 when Antonio Guill y Gonzaga declared an official port. The city is named after an Araucanian chief, Talcahueñu, who inhabited the region at the arrival of the Spanish. In Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuches, Talcahuano means “Thundering Sky”.
The port was well known to American whaleships of the 19th century. They often put in for fresh water, food, and various forms of entertainment for the crews. Talcahuano contains Chile's main naval base.
On February 27 2010 at 15:30 GMT it was damaged by the 2010 Chile Earthquake.
The Concepcion province, one of the province of Biobio Region, is composed by 12 communes:
* Concepción
* Coronel
* Chiguayante
* Florida
* Hualpén
* Hualqui
* Lota
* Penco
* San Pedro de la Paz
* Santa Juana
* Talcahuano
* Tomé
Talcahuano, Lota, Cañete, Chiguayante are 4 of the cities in Concepcion Province affected by Chile Earthquake 2010. Arauco is from Arauco Province.
Conception city
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Concepción is the second largest city of Chile with a population of over 900,000 as of 2002. It is located on the coast of the Biobio Region.
The Gran Concepción or Greater Concepción is the name that receives the whole metropolitan area, which including Talcahuano, San Pedro de la Paz, Hualpén, Chiguayante, Penco, Tomé, Lota, Coronel, Hualqui and Concepción) is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants (2002 census). Individually, it is the 11th largest commune in the country, with a population of 212,003.
Despite Concepcion is the 2nd largest city in Chile, it is not clearly indicated in Goggle map ,only Talcahuano is clearly indicated,which may implied that Talcahuano is bigger than Concepcion. The Gran Concepcion is not clearly shown.
Map of Concepcion
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History
Concepción was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1550 north of the Bío-Bío River, at the site which is today known as Penco. At that time it was given the name Concepción del Nuevo Extremo.
More than once the city has been destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis. One in 1570, another on the 25 May 1751, at which point it was decided to move Concepción further from the sea to its present location in the Mocha Valley.
Due to earthquakes and tsunamis, which razed the town in 1570, 1657, 1687, 1730 and another on May 25, 1751, the authorities decided to move the town to its current location to the Valle de la Mocha, alongside the Bío-Bío River and prohibited the occupation of the old location, which remained unsettled until March 29, 1842, when the present town of Penco was founded.
The new site for the town of Concepción became the main town of the Intendancy of Concepción, whose jurisdiction extended from the Maule River to La Frontera. The first Intendant of Concepción was the Irishman Ambrose O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno, who later became Royal Governor of Chile and Viceroy of Peru.
When the First National Government Board met in Santiago on September 18, 1810, citizens of Concepción joined up. Concepcion was used as the point of entry by the Spanish Army in the attempt by the Viceroyalty of Peru to re-conquer Chile. Concepción politicians and soldiers became a significant political force in the newly-independent country.
On January 1, 1818, Ambrose O'Higgins's son, Bernardo O'Higgins, proclaimed and took the oath of the Chilean War of Independence in the main square of Concepción, which since then has been known as "Plaza de la Independencia". On February 20, 1835, the town again was largely destroyed by an earthquake and had to be rebuilt.
As of 2010, Concepción is the second largest city of Chile. The Universidad de Concepción, founded in 1919, became the first private university in Chile. The neighboring harbor of Talcahuano is the site of the largest naval base in Chile.
Education city
Concepción has the second largest concentration of universities in Chile, and is home to three major universities. The Universidad de Concepción, founded in 1919, and with its main campus in the city became the first private university in Chile.
Naval Base
The neighbouring harbour of Talcahuano holds the largest naval base in the country.
Rock Music capital
Concepción is one of the most active cities in Chilean rock music and many famous rock groups in Chile started up in Concepción.
Talcahuano
Talcahuano is a municipality and port city in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the central zone of Chile. Together with ten other municipalities, it forms part of the Province of Concepción, which in turn is one of four provinces that forms the VIII Region or Biobío Region.
The municipality of Talcahuano has an area of 148.29 km² and, according to the 2002 Census, has a population of 250,348 inhabitants. With a population density of 1,873 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.
The official foundation date of Talcahuano is November 5, 1764 when Antonio Guill y Gonzaga declared an official port. The city is named after an Araucanian chief, Talcahueñu, who inhabited the region at the arrival of the Spanish. In Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuches, Talcahuano means “Thundering Sky”.
The port was well known to American whaleships of the 19th century. They often put in for fresh water, food, and various forms of entertainment for the crews. Talcahuano contains Chile's main naval base.
On February 27 2010 at 15:30 GMT it was damaged by the 2010 Chile Earthquake.
Chile: Curanipe
Map of Curanipe
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Curanipe (in mapudungun: "plum tree that grows in the rock") is a town and seat of the municipality of Pelluhue, Province of Cauquenes, in VII Maule Region of Chile. Although Curanipe is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal.
Both towns, Pelluhue and Curanipe, are nowadays popular coastal resorts. Pelluhue evolved from a humble fishermen's cove to a crowded summer resort in less than 50 years. Curanipe has a more "patrician" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century.
A popular and charming coastal resort, Curanipe used to be a well-known and secluded hangout for the Cauquenes elite and a proud regional "minor port", during the mid- and late 19th century. The town has a quaint architecture that echoes the colonial rural architecture of Chile.
The Curanipe parish church of Santo Toribio, is a beautifully preserved religious building overlooking the town.
The beaches around Curanipe are very popular for his long waves that can carry on for almost 1 kilometer. The Pullay beach has waves up to 4 meter high, where tubes are very common. The place is one of the most popular surfing spots in Chile. Note: However Pichilemu is the No 1 surfing spot in Chile.
On 27 February, 2010 at 06:34:14 GMT (03:34:14 AM local time), a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the seafloor 5 miles (8 km) west of Curanipe
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Curanipe (in mapudungun: "plum tree that grows in the rock") is a town and seat of the municipality of Pelluhue, Province of Cauquenes, in VII Maule Region of Chile. Although Curanipe is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal.
Both towns, Pelluhue and Curanipe, are nowadays popular coastal resorts. Pelluhue evolved from a humble fishermen's cove to a crowded summer resort in less than 50 years. Curanipe has a more "patrician" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century.
A popular and charming coastal resort, Curanipe used to be a well-known and secluded hangout for the Cauquenes elite and a proud regional "minor port", during the mid- and late 19th century. The town has a quaint architecture that echoes the colonial rural architecture of Chile.
The Curanipe parish church of Santo Toribio, is a beautifully preserved religious building overlooking the town.
The beaches around Curanipe are very popular for his long waves that can carry on for almost 1 kilometer. The Pullay beach has waves up to 4 meter high, where tubes are very common. The place is one of the most popular surfing spots in Chile. Note: However Pichilemu is the No 1 surfing spot in Chile.
On 27 February, 2010 at 06:34:14 GMT (03:34:14 AM local time), a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the seafloor 5 miles (8 km) west of Curanipe
Chile: Maule Region
The epicenter of the Chile earthquake 2010 which hit Chile on 27-2-2010 is at offshore from the Maule Region, approximately 8 km (5.0 miles) west of Curanipe and 115 km north-northeast of Chile's second largest city, Concepción.
Map of Maule Region
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The VII Maule Region (Spanish: VII Región del Maule) is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule River, which running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km². The Maule river is of considerable historic interest because, among other reasons, it marked the southern limits of the Inca Empire.
According to the 2002 Census the population of the region was 908,097. With one third of its population living in rural areas, Maule has a greater proportion of rural inhabitants than any other region of Chile.
The four provinces of the Region are:
1. Curicó
2, Talca
3. Linares
4. Cauquenes
The region can boast many small towns and villages with well-preserved colonial rural architecture both in the religious as well as the civil fields. The Talca and Linares dioceses (the two Roman Catholic dioceses in the Maule region) have several parish churches of particular beauty and architectural and historic value.
马乌莱大区是智利十五个大区之一，位于智利中部，下辖库里科省、塔尔卡省、利纳雷斯省、考克内斯省等省，面积30,296平方公里，人口908,097。首府塔尔卡，人口201,797，同时也是塔尔卡省省会。2010年2月27日马乌莱大区附近海域发生里氏8.8级强烈地震，并引发海啸，
Map of Talca(塔尔卡), the capital of Maule Region
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Talca (2002 Census pop. 193,755) is a city and commune in Chile, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile).A city of central Chile between Santiago and Concepción. Talca is located 250 km south of Santiago, south of the confluence of the rivers Lircay and Claro, in the Central Valley. The city is bisected by the Pan-American Highway. Most travelers from Santiago to the South pass right through and have no experience of Talca, a busy medium sized city with cars, taxis, buses bicycles and horse drawn carts in the streets.
History
The city was founded as San Agustín de Talca in 1742 by José Antonio Manso de Velasco. It was partially destroyed by earthquakes in 1742 and 1928, being rebuilt both times. It sits near the epicenter of the 2010, magnitude 8.8 earthquake and suffered severe shaking causing the collapse of much of the historic town centre. The city played a role in Chile's independence; it was the home of Mgr. José Ignacio Cienfuegos, and was the site Bernardo O'Higgins' proclamation of Chilean independence in 1818.
The city is an important economic center, with agricultural (wheat) and manufacturing activities, as well as wine production(Note: The red wine may be from this region).It is also the location of the Universidad de Talca and the Catholic University of Maule, among others. The Catholic Church of Talca has held a prominent role in the history of Chile.
The inhabitants of Talca have a saying, Talca, Paris & London, born from a hat shop which had placed a ribbon stating that it had branches in Paris and London. The shop was owned by a French immigrant named Jean-Pierre Lagarde
Talco and effect of earthquake
Map of Maule Region
View Larger Map
The VII Maule Region (Spanish: VII Región del Maule) is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule River, which running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km². The Maule river is of considerable historic interest because, among other reasons, it marked the southern limits of the Inca Empire.
According to the 2002 Census the population of the region was 908,097. With one third of its population living in rural areas, Maule has a greater proportion of rural inhabitants than any other region of Chile.
The four provinces of the Region are:
1. Curicó
2, Talca
3. Linares
4. Cauquenes
The region can boast many small towns and villages with well-preserved colonial rural architecture both in the religious as well as the civil fields. The Talca and Linares dioceses (the two Roman Catholic dioceses in the Maule region) have several parish churches of particular beauty and architectural and historic value.
马乌莱大区是智利十五个大区之一，位于智利中部，下辖库里科省、塔尔卡省、利纳雷斯省、考克内斯省等省，面积30,296平方公里，人口908,097。首府塔尔卡，人口201,797，同时也是塔尔卡省省会。2010年2月27日马乌莱大区附近海域发生里氏8.8级强烈地震，并引发海啸，
Map of Talca(塔尔卡), the capital of Maule Region
View Larger Map
Talca (2002 Census pop. 193,755) is a city and commune in Chile, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile).A city of central Chile between Santiago and Concepción. Talca is located 250 km south of Santiago, south of the confluence of the rivers Lircay and Claro, in the Central Valley. The city is bisected by the Pan-American Highway. Most travelers from Santiago to the South pass right through and have no experience of Talca, a busy medium sized city with cars, taxis, buses bicycles and horse drawn carts in the streets.
History
The city was founded as San Agustín de Talca in 1742 by José Antonio Manso de Velasco. It was partially destroyed by earthquakes in 1742 and 1928, being rebuilt both times. It sits near the epicenter of the 2010, magnitude 8.8 earthquake and suffered severe shaking causing the collapse of much of the historic town centre. The city played a role in Chile's independence; it was the home of Mgr. José Ignacio Cienfuegos, and was the site Bernardo O'Higgins' proclamation of Chilean independence in 1818.
The city is an important economic center, with agricultural (wheat) and manufacturing activities, as well as wine production(Note: The red wine may be from this region).It is also the location of the Universidad de Talca and the Catholic University of Maule, among others. The Catholic Church of Talca has held a prominent role in the history of Chile.
The inhabitants of Talca have a saying, Talca, Paris & London, born from a hat shop which had placed a ribbon stating that it had branches in Paris and London. The shop was owned by a French immigrant named Jean-Pierre Lagarde
Talco and effect of earthquake
Earth Quake simulation
This simulation of earthquake was posted in youtube in 2006; current it has a total hit of 1,088,705 as at today. It was a documentary by National Geographic.
The simulation
Actual
The simulation
Actual
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