A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit the nation yesterday morning, delaying several trains operating on the North-Link Line between Suao (蘇澳) in Ilan County and Hualien, but causing no major damage to infrastructure or casualties.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, the temblor occurred at 5am, with the epicenter located 70.2km southeast of Yilan County. The depth of the earthquake was 61.9km.
Four aftershocks were reported, with a magnitude 5.1 aftershock occurring at 5:54am.
The largest intensity, of five, was detected in Nanao (南澳) in Yilan County and Heping (和平) in Hualien County.
The earthquake also generated an intensity of four in Wufenshan (五分山) in New Taipei City (新北市), Hualien City, Yilan City and Deji (德基) in Greater Taichung.
Taipei, Taoyuan City and several others recorded an intensity of three.
The earthquake in Nanao and Heping lasted more than 40 seconds, but only reached peak intensity for between 2.36 seconds and 0.18 seconds respectively.
Though no deaths, injuries or major damage was reported as of press time, the earthquake caused six trains operating on the North-Link Line to slow down. It was also the second earthquake this year with a magnitude exceeding six.
Earlier this year, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Wutai (霧台) Township in Pingtung County shook the nation.
The nation’s two major science parks emerged unscathed from the earthquake, the parks’ administrations said late yesterday.
Officials at the Hsinchu Science Park and Southern Taiwan Science Park in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung said that no companies operating in the complexes were affected by the earthquake.
Hsinchu Science Park Administration deputy director-general Tu Chi-hsiang (杜啟祥) said that no immediate damage was reported from the largest science-based industrial park in Taiwan, because the earthquake only registered an intensity of two in Hsinchu City.
Meanwhile, major operators at the Southern Taiwan Science Park, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) and HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), did not report any automatic shutdowns at their plants.
The earthquake had an intensity of three in Greater Tainan and two in Greater Kaohsiung, which would not trigger automatic shutdowns, which are necessitated only by an intensity of more than three, said Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration deputy director Lin Wei-cheng (林威呈) said.
On April 9, TSMC held a groundbreaking ceremony in the South Taiwan Science Park for a new manufacturing facility where it will expand production of leading-edge 20-nanometer technology.
UMC also started construction last month of a 12-inch wafer plant in the Southern Taiwan Science Park to produce chips for the 28, 20 and 14 nanometer processes.
Lin said these new facilities were unharmed by the earthquake because they are designed to resist quakes with an intensity of up to five.
Additional reporting by CNA
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS