A powerful earthquake that shook Guatemala and parts of El Salvador caused traffic chaos in Guatemala City, damaged some houses and generated landslides outside the capital.
But officials said there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries from the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck on Wednesday afternoon southwest of Guatemala City.
Aid workers across Guatemala reported only minor damage to homes in a couple of rural communities, said Francois de la Roche, Latin America's director for humanitarian and emergency affairs for the aid organization World Vision.
"I didn't notice it at first but then felt this long, swaying motion back and forward," de la Roche said in a telephone interview from Antigua, Guatemala.
The quake struck at 1:29pm local time and was centered 115km southwest of Guatemala City off the Pacific coast, the US Geological Survey said. Guatemala's seismology institute said the quake lasted 49 seconds.
In Guatemala City, people fled buildings into the streets, throwing traffic into chaos in the sprawling city.
"It rattled a lot of nerves," said Benedicto Giron, spokesman for the National Disaster Reduction Center.
Outside the capital, landslides were reported in the southwest province of Escuintla, but they apparently caused no casualties, Giron said.
The quake was also felt strongly in neighboring El Salvador, where people ran into the streets in the capital, San Salvador, but the Red Cross there said it had no reports of damage or injuries.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said no tsunami was expected from the quake.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS