A 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted southern Taiwan at 8:18am yesterday, damaging houses, cutting power supplies and disrupting the nation’s transportation systems.
No fatalities have been reported, although 64 people were injured, mainly by falling objects.
Central Weather Bureau (CWB) statistics showed that the epicenter of the quake was 17km southeast of the bureau’s observation center in Jiasian Township (甲仙), Kaohsiung County, at a depth of 5km.
PHOTO: CNA
The temblor was felt nationwide, with the highest intensity — 6 on the Richter Scale — detected in Nansi (楠西), Tainan County, and Dapu (大埔), Chiayi County.
The intensity of the quake was 5 in Jiasian and 4 in Taitung, Changhua, Kaohsiung and Yunlin counties. The force of the earthquake was the equivalent of about two atomic bombs, the bureau said.
Dozens of aftershocks were felt later, including a 5.7-magnitude tremor about the same location at 4:16pm, at a depth of 16.6km. Historical records showed that the 6.4 temblor was the strongest to hit the region since 1902.
PHOTO: NICKY LOH, REUTERS
The epicenter was just a few kilometers from Siaolin Village (小林), which was wiped out and where about 500 people were killed by landslides following Typhoon Morakot in August.
The earthquake triggered a minor landslide in Guanshan Village (關山) next to Siaolin. No injuries were reported as all residents in the area were relocated following Morakot.
In nearby Shanlin Township (杉林), however, a traditional brick house collapsed after the quake, with 85-year-old owner Chang Yu-mei (張有妹) narrowly escaping injury.
PHOTO: CNA
“I was sitting in the living room watching TV alone when the earthquake struck. The earth suddenly began shaking — it was very scary,” Chang told the Chinese-language United Evening News.
Chang said she ran out of the house after hearing a weird sound coming from the roof.
“As soon as I got out, the roof collapsed,” she was quoted as saying.
A 4m crack appeared on a wall of the recently built Liouguei Township (六龜) Office and several lamps fell from the ceiling.
Damage to buildings was reported in Tainan, Pingtung and Chiayi counties.
The Gaomei Bridge (高美大橋) in Gaoshu (高樹) cracked and was closed to traffic. In Yujing Township (玉井), Tainan County, pillars were so severely damaged at Yujing Junior High School that school officials declared some classrooms off-limits. Officials said some classes could be relocated to a school nearby.
A 15m crack appeared on top of the Hutoupi Reservoir (虎頭埤水庫) in Tainan County. At press time, specialists were still assessing the damage.
In Kaohsiung City, the MRT system suspended service from 8:19am to 10:47am to perform safety checks.
Those who entered or exited stations between 8:19am and 10:47am will have seven days to apply for a refund at service desks, the operator said.
Six high speed rail trains were stopped and about 2,400 passengers had to evacuate the trains. They walked along the elevated tracks and boarded buses provided by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC).
THSRC canceled services between Taichung and Zuoying (左營) yesterday to inspect the tracks for damage, with the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) increasing the number of trains traveling to Zuoying to make up for the suspension of the high speed rail service.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) was aboard train No. 110 from Zouying to Taipei and was trapped inside for more than two hours after it stopped in Sinshih Township (新市), Tainan County.
“There was no air-conditioning in the train, it was very hot inside and we were only allowed to leave the train after two-and-a-half hours,” Huang said.
“There were many elderly or physically impaired passengers on board, but we were asked to walk along the track and when we finally reached the location where we boarded a shuttle bus, we had to wait for a long time before the bus arrived,” he said.
“Had this been an exercise, Taiwan High Speed Rail would have failed,” Huang said.
The TRA also found minor damage on two railway bridges. Trains operating on these two sections had to slow down to 40kph.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration requested that the three domestic airlines increase their flights to Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung yesterday and today.
THSRC said that operations were scheduled to resume today.
The CWB initially said the earthquake was caused by the dislocation of the fault in Chaojhou (潮州斷層), one of the main faults in the Kaohsiung area. Later it said that based on the data it had gathered, it could not tell with certainty that the fault was the cause.
Aside from Chaojhou, Kaohsiung also has the Liouguei (六龜) and Cishan (旗山) faults. The epicenter of the earthquake was only 8km from the Chaojhou fault and about 20km from the other two faults.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
Also See: Agencies on alert after quake
Also See: Disruption as quake rocks parks
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS