I think you're right. And you show that it's a more complex issue that it may first appear

Business owners are not going to stand for losing days of work for an earthquake that may or may not happen

And practically, how would a mass evacuation work anyway - where do you put everyone and for how long and what if nothing happens?

So on the balance of things I can kinda see how it's considered better to just ride it out

Additionally, I also agree that building construction is a key part to earthquake survival though this is a separate issue and there's no reason why earthquake prediction and earthquake-proof construction can't both advance at the same time

However, in the situation we just had in Hualien, there was clearly an abnormal upsurge in earthquakes - in fact it bore all the hallmarks of a so called 'earthquake swarm', as per the much studied 1951 precedent, but CWB went out of it's way to deny this was happening and declared the event finished when it fact it was just warming up.

It's one thing to say nothing but to be announcing everything's fine while the ground is literally still shaking every 30 minutes with 4-5+M quakes is a strange call and makes me highly suspicious

If information is being deliberately withheld from the public then that is a serious matter

Speaking of accurate information, the shock that I reported having popped up away from the main cluster and being a possible sign of a 'triggered leaping sequence' is actually outside of the Rift Valley and not connected to the network of faults that shifted in the 1951 case