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
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the
RSS