A strong magnitude 7 earthquake rattled the nation and injured two people at 12:08pm yesterday.
The Central Weather Bureau said that the quake's epicenter was located in the Pacific 109km east of Ilan County and 58.8km underground. The magnitude was 5 in Ilan, 4 in Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Taitung and Yunlin, 3 in Hsinchu and Nantou and 1 in Kaohsiung City.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"It started to shake up and down then later became parallel. The entire duration was about 30 seconds," said Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the bureau's Earthquake Center.
Kuo said that the quake's power was equivalent to about 16 atomic bombs yesterday. By comparison, the 921 earthquake in 1999 was 7.3 in magnitude and similar to the power of 46 atomic bombs.
"Strong earthquakes like this might happen again in the next four weeks or so," Kuo said. "We should keep our heads up for those potential quakes."
In Ilan, a piece of the ceiling at the Ilan Farmers' Association fell and injured Chiayi farmer Lo Shun-yi (
In Taoyuan, an aluminum water tank on the roof of a restaurant was sheared off by the quake and the tank hit Lien Shu-mei (
Local police in Keelung said two seven-story buildings in the city slightly "kissed" each other during the quake and broken tiles fell to the ground. The accident scared pedestrians but injured no one.
In Kaohsiung County, firefighters had to put out a fire, allegedly caused by the quake, at an Internet cafe in Fengshan City. When the earthquake occurred, employees immediately evacuated its customers but gas pipelines broke loose during the quake and caused the fire. The fire did not injure anybody, but destroyed a few computers.
In Taipei City, Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world, did not suffer any damage, but 20 workers were briefly stuck inside an elevator when elevators were shut off when the earthquake began. Technicians turned the elevators back on a few minutes later.
Taipei 101 Construction Department Assistant Manager Yeh Yen-shun (
Yesterday's earthquake also forced Taipei City's MRT system to stop trains, evacuate all passengers and halt services for more than an hour. But the subway system went back into service at 1:20pm after all security checks were completed.
Also see story:
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS