Two people died and at least 42 suffered injuries during the two earthquakes measuring 6.7 and 6.4 on the Richter scale that shook southern Taiwan on Tuesday night, the National Fire Agency confirmed yesterday.
The quakes, which were felt throughout Taiwan, were followed by a series of minor tremors, including a 5.9-magnitude aftershock at 10:30am yesterday that was felt as far north as Miaoli County and Ilan County.
Three homes collapsed and 12 fires were triggered by the quakes, the agency said.
PHOTOS: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
A mother was killed apparently trying to protect her twin sons when their four-story home collapsed in Hengchun Township (
Fang Shu-chuan (
She was found by rescuers in the ruins of the building three hours after the quake.
She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Fang's 34-year-old brother also died in the disaster. Four other family members survived.
One of the twins was seriously hurt and the other suffered minor injuries, the officials said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday afternoon traveled to Pingtung County to visit families of the victims.
Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) and National Fire Agency Director-General Huang Chi-min (黃季敏) accompanied him at the scene.
The Cabinet yesterday donated NT$250,000 to the injured and grieving families, while private donations and local government financial assistance to quake victims totaled NT$500,000 and NT$300,000 respectively.
NGO help
The Ministry of the Interior also urged non-governmental organizations to raise money to assist quake victims and relief efforts in the hardest-hit areas in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties.
The Ministry of Education yesterday said that 134 elementary and middle schools were damaged by Tuesday's tremors.
The majority of the damaged schools were in Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties.
Ten of these have been closed because of severe structural damage, the ministry said.
"Student safety is foremost in our minds. If schools are deemed dangerous because of the damage, then students will not be allowed to enter them," Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) said yesterday during a press conference.
"Much of the damage is minor -- broken glass, fallen structures and the like. This damage will be taken care of immediately," he said.
Relief efforts
The ministry said that it would contribute NT$10 million (US$304,000) to disaster relief efforts in Pingtung County, and was evaluating how much to allocate to schools and local-level governments in addition to that amount to repair the damage.
Nuclear power officials said yesterday that the Third Nuclear Power Plant's No. 1 reactor was operating at full capacity.
The No. 2 reactor, although not posing any danger, had been stopped manually after the quakes by plant personnel as a precaution.
At press time last night, the second reactor was being reactivated after approval was granted by the Atomic Energy Council just after 5pm yesterday.
The state-owned oil refiner Chinese Petroleum Corp said yesterday that operations at a refinery in Kaohsiung had returned to normal after output was reduced for about four hours.
A boiler at the refinery in Kaohsiung automatically shut down after the earthquakes. The company is now operating at about 85 percent capacity at its three refineries, which can process a total of 720,000 barrels of crude oil a day, company vice president Tsao Mihn (
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker, said yesterday in a press statement that the company's operations in Hsinchu were unaffected by the quakes.
But at the company's Tainan site, TSMC said it had halted operation of several pieces of equipment to protect materials and to conduct inspections, but production lines quickly resumed.
Geologists have warned that more and perhaps stronger earthquakes may follow.
"The stratum [where the epicenter is located] has accumulated too much stress, and this is unusual," said Hongey Chen (陳宏宇), a geology professor at National Taiwan University. "The stress has now been released. What concerns us is that it might induce a hidden source of energy inside the layers."
Wen Kuo-liang (溫國樑), a chief researcher at the National Center for Research Earthquake Engineering, said it was difficult to determine whether stronger earthquakes would occur in the near future.
He said a 5-magnitude earthquake had occurred near the epicenter of the first quake four years ago.
However, no quake of such magnitude had struck the area in the past 100 years, he said.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Hengchun in 1959.
The bureau said yesterday that the earthquake was triggered by movement between the Eurasia and Philippine tectonic plates.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source