Fri, Mar 05, 2010 - Page 1 News List

Minor damage as quake rattles nation

MORNING JOLT The temblor, with a strength equivalent to two atomic bombs, disrupted train and MRT services and caused damage to some structures in the south

By Shelley Shan and Loa Iok-sin  /  STAFF REPORTERS

“There was no air-conditioning in the train, it was very hot inside and we were only allowed to leave the train after two-and-a-half hours,” Huang said.

“There were many elderly or physically impaired passengers on board, but we were asked to walk along the track and when we finally reached the location where we boarded a shuttle bus, we had to wait for a long time before the bus arrived,” he said.

“Had this been an exercise, Taiwan High Speed Rail would have failed,” Huang said.

The TRA also found minor damage on two railway bridges. Trains operating on these two sections had to slow down to 40kph.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration requested that the three domestic airlines increase their flights to Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung yesterday and today.

THSRC said that operations were scheduled to resume today.

The CWB initially said the earthquake was caused by the dislocation of the fault in Chaojhou (潮州斷層), one of the main faults in the Kaohsiung area. Later it said that based on the data it had gathered, it could not tell with certainty that the fault was the cause.

Aside from Chaojhou, Kaohsiung also has the Liouguei (六龜) and Cishan (旗山) faults. The epicenter of the earthquake was only 8km from the Chaojhou fault and about 20km from the other two faults.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO

Also See: Agencies on alert after quake

Also See: Disruption as quake rocks parks

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