Hualien County was yesterday struck by more than 30 shallow earthquakes, with a few homes damaged, although there were no reports of injuries.
The earthquake swarm began with a magnitude 5.2 tremor at 6:52am, with the epicenter 5.1km southwest of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 5.9km. From 6:53am to 8:08pm, it was followed by 38 aftershocks of magnitude 3 to 5, Central Weather Bureau data showed.
Eighteen tremors occurred from 6:52am to 7:48am, the bureau said.
Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
The quakes were at most 30km deep, putting them in the “very shallow” category, it said.
Residents reported hearing a loud subterranean rumbling.
In downtown Hualien, walls of some homes fell.
Seismology Center Director Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌) said that the shaking was aftershocks from a series of earthquakes on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
The rapid succession of events yesterday was unusual, Chen said, adding that more aftershocks might occur over the next week.
Most of the aftershocks would be magnitude 3 to 4, with the largest possibly reaching magnitude 5, he said.
A magnitude 5.5 aftershock is unlikely, he said, citing the region’s seismic history.
Bureau data showed that four earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 or larger have occurred since 1973, when the agency started using more advanced seismometers.
A magnitude 6.5 quake occurred in 1990, the largest recorded in the area.
“Although earthquakes occur frequently in this region, people should not worry, as the risk of a large earthquake is low,” Chen said, adding that such low-level releases of energy accumulating in tectonic plates is a welcome sign.
Like the quakes last week, yesterday’s were caused by the collision between the Philippine Sea and Eurasian tectonic plates, with the oceanic plate subducting beneath the continental plate, Chen said.
The epicenters of yesterday’s quakes were between south of Jian Township (吉安) and north of Shoufong Township (壽豐), Chen said, adding that the area is a north-south geologically fragmented zone that is tilted to the west.
The area’s quakes should have similar sequences, as they occur under similar conditions, he said.
As of yesterday, the bureau had recorded 22 earthquakes of at least magnitude 5 this year, close to the annual average of 23 to 25, Chen said, adding that 80 percent of them were detected in Hualien.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS