From 2021, the Sports Administration has carried out a comprehensive inventory of public sports venues; by May 18, 2023, through the inventory, the 53 public sports venues classified for monitoring and inspection have completed initial and detailed assessment, with 100% completion rate; the earthquake resistance of 37 venues meets current requirements or reinforcing or demolition has been completed and lifted, from control list with an earthquake resistance improvement rate of 70%. For the remaining venues, the Sports Administration continues to provide subsidy and supervise rapid handling by various city and county governments, with three demolition and 13 reinforcement projects underway. It is expected that earthquake resistance improvement of all the earthquake resistance reinforcement cases will be completed by the end of 2025.

Taiwan is situated in the Pacific earthquake zone and has thousands of earthquakes of varying magnitudes every year. The earthquake resistance of building design regulations were tightened after the Great Chichi Earthquake in 1999, requiring public buildings for which construction application was made before December 31, 1999 to have sufficient earthquake resistance confirmed by architect associations, related professional technicians’ associations, professional institutions or academic groups to ensure the safety of life and property. For many years, the Sports Administration has continued to subsidize renovation of existing facilities by local governments and listed those that have requested earthquake resistance reinforcement funding for priority subsidy to assist county/city governments to carry out earthquake resistance capability assessment and reinforcement planning and execution for sports venues and other buildings.

Building earthquake resistance assessment is divided into initial assessment and detailed assessment; a building that is assessed without safety concerns at the initial assessment stage does not have to go through the detailed assessment. Buildings that are assessed with safety concerns should be subject to detailed assessment; if there are still safety concerns or doubts, a building should undergo a reinforcement design project or be demolished and rebuilt.

Since 2021, the Sports Administration has, moreover, intensified supervision, requiring each city/county government to conduct comprehensive inventory check on public sports venues designed and constructed before the end of 1999 that haven’t had earthquake resistance capability confirmed or have not completed earthquake resistance capability improvement, and to classify all for monitoring and inspection. Besides incorporating these venues into the Public Construction Promotion report for monthly progress monitoring, Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program funding is also used to give priority assistance and other resources that can be allocated are strived for to facilitate complete of sports center earthquake resistance improvement operations at an early date and ensure public sports safety.

The Sports Administration stated that Taiwan has special geographical conditions, and the earthquake resistance capability of public sports venues is key to ensuring public safety. Through cooperation between the central government and local governments to actively conduct inventory on usable resources, the aim is to complete improvement of the earthquake resistance capability of public sports venues across Taiwan at an early date so that citizens can engage in sports at such venues without worry.