A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook southeastern Taiwan early yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. No major damage was reported as of press time.
The epicenter of the earthquake was at sea, about 33.6km east of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 18.4km, the bureau said, adding that the earthquake at 4:06am produced intensity readings of five in eastern Taiwan on the nation’s zero-to-seven seismic intensity scale.
The quake was felt in Kaohsiung with an intensity of between three and four, prompting alarmed netizens to post messages online expressing alarm and warning people to be cautious.
As yesterday was Valentine’s Day, some netizens dubbed the quake the “Valentine’s Day limited edition.”
Meanwhile, the strength of the quake felt in Pingtung County gave rise to concern over the county’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, as in 2006 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake triggered the emergency shutdown of its No. 2 reactor.
In response to these concerns, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) officials said the intensity of yesterday’s earthquake was not enough to bring about a shutdown.
Seven seismic instruments were installed at the plant in the wake of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in Japan and an emergency shutdown would be automatically triggered if the instruments register peak ground acceleration (PGA) exceeding 0.2g, the officials said, adding that yesterday’s quake only registered a PGA of 0.0136g and did not have any affect on the plant’s operations.
However, the seismic instruments recorded a PGAof 0.175g during the 2006 earthquake, making it the largest motion registered since recording commenced at the site, Taipower officials said.
Plant staff inspected all the in-plant facilities following standard operating procedures soon after the seismic instruments had registered ground motion, the officials said, adding that no damage or anomaly was found.
The generating systems did not falter and both reactors in the plant have been operating at full capacity, according to the officials.
The plant was originally designed to operate under 0.4g PGA — equivalent to a magnitude 8 earthquake — however, a NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) reinforcement project completed last year makes the plant able to operate under 0.72g PGA, Taipower officials said, adding that the reinforcement included installation of connecting bolts, replacement and enlargement of infrastructural steel plates, and augmentation of pile-supported foundations for storage tanks.
In related news, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said a total of 36 train services were delayed as of 9:30am due to earthquake, adding that the delays affected nearly 3,000 passengers.
Additional reporting by Hung Ting-hung and CNA
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS