Visit to Earthquake Remains Conserved in Taiwan
A fault exposed in a paddy field due to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes attracted much attention, calling for the necessity of its preservation (as a result, it is designated as a natural monument by Mashiki Town today). As a good example of disclosing and utilizing such preserved fault exposure, the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum (where the fault exposed due to the Hyogoken-Nanbu Earthquake, which triggered the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, is preserved) established in 1998 is well-known in Japan. In 1999, the Jiji Earthquake occurred in Taiwan. We visited a museum constructed following the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum with further development near Taichung, the damage of which was specifically serious. The 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan works well as a disaster prevention museum, which shows earthquakes with a focus on the effectiveness of quake resistance and quake-freeness by conserving a damaged junior high school building with a shelter constructed as the exterior walls of the museum for disclosure. On the other hand, the Chelungpu Fault Preservation Park is a scientific museum, where an exposed fault section confirmed during the survey is directly exhibited inside the housing. The museum also shows the mechanism of an earthquake and the history of past quakes. Particularly, by means of project mapping focusing on the fault surface, they visually show the history of complicated strata in sequence, which is difficult to understand from the current plane of stratification. Application of such an approach is expected in various fields also in Japan, including explanations about remains at archeological sites besides the exhibition of the strata.