Tainan residents were awakened yesterday by a magnitude 4.3 earthquake, bringing back memories of a much bigger quake that shook the city just more than two months ago.
No damage or casualties were reported at press time last night.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, the earthquake occurred at 4:30am yesterday. The epicenter was in Tainan’s Guantian District (官田), about 25km northeast of the Tainan City Government building.
Bureau data showed the depth of the earthquake was 7.8km.
Apart from Guantian, the city’s Sinhua (新化), Jiali (佳里) and Yongkang (永康) districts all recorded an intensity level of 4 — the highest generated by the earthquake yesterday.
Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the bureau’s Seismology Center, said that yesterday’s earthquake was not an aftershock of the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck on Feb. 6, before the Lunar New Year holiday this year.
“We think that the [yesterday’s] earthquake was an isolated event. A series of aftershocks that occurred after the Meinong (美濃) earthquake [on Feb. 6] had eased by Feb. 25,” Kuo said, adding that earthquakes are not rare in the area of the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake.
Though no damage or casualties were reported, many people in Tainan were nevertheless rattled by the temblor, as it reminded them of the fear and losses they experienced during the previous quake, which claimed 114 lives.
Liu Yi-cheng (劉怡辰), who lost her husband, son and 10-day-old baby when the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex collapsed, said that yesterday’s earthquake brought back all the traumatic memories.
“After the earthquake [yesterday], you find yourself all alone and your family gone. Those feelings [of sadness] all came back,” Liu said. “You have nothing but fear, and you do not know when that fear would disappear.”
Others survivors of the apartment collapse said on the Line messaging app that they were so terrified by the earthquake they were unable to sleep afterward.
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