Northern Taiwan was rocked by a magnitude 4 earthquake at 12:31am yesterday, renewing concerns about the potential for volcanoes in the Tatun Volcano Group (大屯火山群) in Yangmingshan National Park to erupt.
At press time, no casualties had been reported from the quake and only minor damage — to the Pingdeng Elementary School on Yangmingshan — was reported.
Many residents in the area were startled by the quake, which caused a loud rumbling sound.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University professor Chen Hung-yu
Central Weather Bureau data showed that the epicenter of the quake was in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林), 11.8km north of Taipei City Hall at a depth of 6.3km.
The strongest intensity of the quake, Level 4, was detected on Yangmingshan, followed by Level 3 in Wugu (五股) in New Taipei City (新北市) and Taoyuan City, and Level 2 in Taipei and Keelung.
The bureau’s records show that 19 earthquakes with a magnitude exceeding 3 have occurred within a 5km radius of the epicenter of yesterday’s quake since 1980. The largest one was in 1988, with a magnitude of 5.3.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Yesterday’s quake was the strongest within the perimeter of the Tatun group in 26 years, the bureau said.
Seismology Center Director Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋) said the earthquake was a stress adjustment that occurs after lava cools down.
“When the lava in a volcano cools down, it shrinks in size. This will subsequently lead to gaps in the rock layers. Pulled by gravity, the rock layer on top falls. This kind of stress adjustment is quite normal,” he said.
Yesterday’s quake was not caused by the active fault at the foot of Yangminshan, as its epicenter and the fault are about 6km apart, Kuo said.
Nevertheless, the earthquake generated concern that one or more of the Tatun volcanoes might erupt soon.
Kuo said that was an unlikely scenario.
“The volcanoes in Tatun are generally considered dormant. Currently, only three to five small earthquakes happen in the area per day. On average, the volcanoes could erupt if there are more than 100 to 200 earthquakes per day, and they have to escalate from deep earthquakes to shallow earthquakes,” he said.
However, National Taiwan University professor Chen Hongey (陳宏宇) said the government needs to carefully examine the correlations between yesterday’s magnitude 4 earthquake and the active fault, adding that it was quite unusual for an earthquake to occur at the volcanic zone.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty