Another earthquake rocked the central and southern regions of the island yesterday, injuring hundreds and causing the collapse of at least 12 buildings, but no deaths were reported.
The quake struck at 10:19am, just 2.5km northwest of Chiayi City and measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, the Central Weather Bureau said.
"We believe that the Chiayi quake has a totally different cause from the Chichi [921] quake and its aftershocks may last over one month," a weather official said.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
A chemical laboratory at Chungcheng University caught fire when chemicals fell and mixed during the quake.
Military and local fire department teams fought the fire on the campus and evacuated students from the university's buildings.
The fire burned up to seven classrooms but no-one was injured, said a Minhsiung (
At the Minhsiung engineering school, students escaped screaming from an old building, formerly used as an electronics classroom. The building collapsed but only seven students received minor injuries.
Natural gas leaked from broken gas pipes in many homes and many residents were trapped in elevators after electricity in the area shut down.
The first floor of a two-storey freight transport company building in Chiayi gave way and several of its employees received minor injuries.
"We thought one person was trapped in the building and we were calling for him, but a few minutes later he escaped through the back of the building," the company's owner told a local television reporter.
Traffic was not seriously impeded and telecommunications remained unaffected, but over 90,000 households in both Chiayi and Yunlin Counties were powerless, though power was restored by 2pm yesterday.
There was serious damage to some famous tourist spots in local mountain areas, such as Alishan (
The continuing aftershocks led government authorities in Chiayi to suspend classes. "Children were really frightened by the tremors this past month," said a teacher at one of Chiayi's schools.
Central government departments set up a center to manage and coordinate rescue and relief efforts.
Vice President Lien Chan (
Residential buildings in Tai-chung and Nantou Counties were rocked by the new quake but there were no reports of further casualties or damage.
"We neither received any messages about victims, nor found any casualties when police and firemen inspected our county after the Chiayi quake," the spokesman of Nantou County Fire Department said.
"It is possible that all buildings which were going to collapse would have done so during the Chichi quake," one official added.
The Chiayi-Tainan, or Chianan region, has been hit by several strong quakes in the past century and is located in a highly active fault area, seismologists said.
Chiayi County has a population of 263,000 and is located 300km south of Taipei.
Experts say an even bigger quake could still hit the area.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS