A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Taiwan’s southeastern county of Taitung at 9:41 pm yesterday, according to data from the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).
There were reports of objects falling from store shelves in Taitung, Kaohsiung’s metro system was temporarily suspended and there were at least five aftershocks.
The epicenter of the temblor was located about 35.8 kilometers north of Taitung County Hall, at a depth of 7.3 km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said.
Photo: Central Weather Bureau
The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a quake, reached a 6 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale in Taitung’s Chihshang Township (池上), indicating intense shaking of buildings and movements of unsecured objects indoors.
Tropical Storm Koinu is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Wednesday through Friday as it passes through the Bashi Channel, but it remained uncertain how it would affect the weather, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am yesterday, Koinu was about 1,000km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 12kph, the CWA said. Koinu is likely to strengthen into a typhoon today or tomorrow and turn west as it enters the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan proper, CWA forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. The storm’s trajectory is still unclear, so more time is
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