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
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS