At 7.3 on the Richter scale, the 921 earthquake, also known as the Jiji earthquake, was the largest quake in Taiwan for a century. It killed 2415 people and injured over 11,000, and it damaged or destroyed more than 80,000 buildings.
The October 1999 issue of Sinorama featured a logo on the cover that was altered from the original red and blue to black and white, expressing the nation’s grief, the first and only time that this has been done. We published a special issue to report on the earthquake, analyzing the situation after the disaster, while also pointing out the role of Taiwan’s poor building standards in the tragedy and the shortcomings of the disaster relief system. In the November issue of the same year, a special article entitled “Shake, Rattle... and Roll Out the Mountains” featured Taiwan’s geological faults, building regulations, and a number of stories of post-disaster reconstruction. Looking again at the photos from the earthquake zone, one can’t help but be overcome by great sadness. The shots taken by our photographic team recorded not only the terrible aftermath of the disaster, but also the warmth of our island’s people.
The 921 earthquake also woke up Taiwan to reconsider the nation’s hitherto enormous slant on developing the economy, perhaps looking more closely at the relationship between man and nature, and the need to find new paths for maturing into the next century.
