921 Earthquake Museum — a tribute to the invincible human spirit

This unique museum is built within the ruins of Guangfu﹝光復﹞ Junior High School in the Wufong﹝霧峰﹞ Township of Taichung﹝台中﹞. The school’s demolished buildings not only help visitors observe and contemplate the power of an earthquake, but the broken parts of the building have also been skillfully used as effective teaching aids.

The museum houses five different halls. People of all ages and education levels will enjoy the hands-on learning in the Chelongpu﹝雞籠埔﹞ Fault Preservation Hall located at the entrance of the museum’s award-winning, asymmetrically arched building. Multimedia stations and well-presented models inform visitors about the earth’s structure, earthquakes and seismology. The descriptions are in impeccable English, and multilingual guides are also on hand.

Adding to the clear and interesting interactive educational displays on the left side is the athletic field of the school, which was raised about 2.5 meters (10 feet) during the earthquake and can be seen through the glass doors on the right hand. There is also a huge mound of earth with different layers that buckled into a S-shape during the temblor — the real-life demonstration of nature’s powers.

Further ahead is a gallery of pictures of the devastation caused by the 921 earthquake in central Taiwan — gruesome records of the tragic event. Pictures of the surface ruptures along Chelungpu Fault cutting across bridges, roads, tea plantations, riverbanks, rice fields, forests and homes stay in the mind long after you leave the museum.

Walking by two broken classroom buildings, you’ll next reach the Earthquake Engineering Education Hall. Through interactive displays, real-life models and trilingual text, visitors learn about modern earthquake-resistance technology. They gain understanding of practical topics such as how to build and choose safe homes, and the seismic resistance and emergency response systems of energy facilities and transport infrastructure.

You can heave a sigh of relief knowing that all of Taiwan’s bridges are built or reinforced to be earthquake resistant, and that Taiwan’s nuclear power plants, trains, and gas, transport and electricity systems will react within seconds in case of an earthquake.

The human face of the earthquake comes alive in the Hall of Images. Here is the living evidence of the resilience of the human spirit. The Taiwanese not only coped with the annihilation caused by the 921 earthquake, but also managed to thrive in the face of this arduous challenge.

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