Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Earthquake of September 21, 1999

Prepared by the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering of ASCE. On September 21, 1999, central Taiwan was struck by a devastating earthquake resulting in more than 2,400 deaths, thousands of collapsed and severely damaged buildings, and economic losses of more than US$20 billion. This TCLEE Monograph describes the earthquake performance, emergency response, and recovery for the following lifeline systems: electric power, water, wastewater, communications, roads and bridges, railroads, ports, gas, and liquid fuels. In addition, the impact of lifeline disruption on the emergency response capabilities of rescue activities is discussed. For each lifeline, damage, emergency response methods used to cope with damage and disruption, and the restoration and recovery processes are described. Each section summarizes the lessons learned and makes recommendations to improve system earthquake response.