An earthquake struck Nantou County yesterday near the epicenter of the 921 Earthquake and was felt nationwide, with a maximum intensity of 7.0 on the Richter scale in Nantou’s Mingjian Township (名間). The temblor was followed by aftershocks as strong as 5.7.
The Central Weather Bureau Web site said the earthquake struck at 5:32pm and had a 6.0 magnitude but had the strength of a 7.0 in the Mingjian area. Its epicenter was 19.3km deep and 10.3km southeast of Mingjian, close to that of the 921 Earthquake that struck 10 years ago on Sept. 21, 1999.
PHOTO: HSIEH CHIEH-YU, TAIPEI TIMES
AFTERSHOCKS
The bureau recorded the first aftershock six minutes after the quake, with an intensity of 4.7.
A second struck at 5:56pm and measured 3.6. The epicenters of both aftershocks were very close to the location of the original temblor.
A third aftershock measuring 5.7 occurred at 7:34pm with an epicenter 21.9km deep. Two more struck at 7:39pm and 8:04pm with intensities of 3.6 and 3.5 respectively.
The first temblor was strongest in Mingjian. It measured 6.0 in Gukeng Township (古坑), Yunlin County and 5.0 in Nantou City, Yunlin’s Douliu City (斗六), Changhua City and Changhua County’s Yuanlin Township (員林). It measured 2.0 in Taipei.
Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the bureau’s seismological center, said the earthquake was caused by the release of seismic energy.
The duration of the quake varied from place to place, Kuo said. In Mingjian it lasted only 0.02 seconds.
The Taiwan High Speed Rail briefly suspended operations as a result of the quake.
INJURY
TV news reported that a high school student in Taichung County suffered a minor head injury when a piece of the ceiling in a classroom collapsed. She was sent home after being treated at a hospital emergency room.
Chunghwa Telecom and other two major telecom carriers said a surge in communication between friends and family after the quake caused a congestion in the network. The slowed communications were not caused by damage to infrastructure.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS