Scientists urged the importance of earthquake preparedness yesterday following the second major quake to hit Taiwan in a little over a month.
Yesterday's quake, centered near Chiayi, originated on a different fault line than the 921 earthquake, the Central Weather Bureau reported. The temblor registered 6.4 on the Richter scale and was followed by dozens of aftershocks.
According to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB, ??央?eth>象局), the preliminary epicenter for the earthquake, which struck at 10:19am yesterday, was 2.5km north of Chiayi City.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMESN
"I would say the big tremor this morning made the Chianan Plain (
Scientists said the quake was caused by unexpected movement of the Meishan fault (梅?s斷層), an active fault in Chiayi County where major earthquakes happen frequently. According to available records, the fault, which is less than 20km long, has been the source of several major tremors in Taiwan's history, including one measuring 5.03 on the Richter scale in 1994, one at 5.6 on 1907, and one estimated at 7.1 in 1906.
"I'm not at all surprised by the quake on the Meishan fault because the records give a clear warning," said Tsai Yi-ben (
Taiwan experiences frequent earthquakes because of collisions between the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are in continuous motion relative to each other, Tsai said.
The 150-km-long line where the two plates meet is located under the Taitung Valley (
Being close to the this boundary line, the geological structures west of the valley -- mainly in areas stretching from Miaoli (
"Unlike the 921 earthquake, not too much evidence of [yesterday's] Meishan fault movements can be seen because the epicenter was 12.1km below the surface," said Tsai, referring to difficulties in ascertaining more details about the active fault.
Scientists have been working on collecting data about the movements of the Cholungpu fault (
As for other active faults on the island, Tsai said scientists have been monitoring them for decades and have still failed to predict tremors.
"The most important thing is that people on the island should be well prepared, and the fact that Taiwan is in an earthquake-prone area should not been ignored," he said.
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.
RSS