Although the frequency of aftershocks following Sunday's earthquake has fallen dramatically, residents should remain alert for more mini-temblors over the next month, seismologists from the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday
More than 300 aftershocks had been registered by yesterday evening. The strongest, registering 4.9 on the Richter scale, occurred at 4:02pm on Sunday afternoon.
The next-strongest registered 4.8 on the Richter scale, occurring at 1:09am yesterday in Ilan. The epicenter was 10.7km southeast of the bureau's Nanau seismic monitoring station in Ilan County.
Although the number of aftershocks had fallen from 40 in the first hour after the quake to five or six per hour yesterday morning, officials said, strong temblors were still possible over the next few weeks.
"Sometimes aftershocks of a strong earthquake continue to occur in the following two weeks, or even up to one month," Kuo Kai-wen (
Seismologists yesterday stressed again that Sunday's earthquake was a normal release of accumulated energy inside the planet and that strong quakes measuring above 6 on the Richter scale happen every few years.
The bureau also said its system to disseminate emergency earthquake information worked well, with the first crucial information compiled within a minute.
The system, composed of 62 monitoring stations around the island, was launched in December 1994.
Within three minutes of Sunday's quake, details had been sent to fire departments, state-run transportation and power systems, government agencies and the media.
The bureau also sent information via the Internet and the country's pager system.
But officials warned that, while issuing alarms to the public could reduce the impact, there was still no reliable way of predicting future earthquakes.
Officials say they are working on improving the system to reduce the period of time to notify cities 100km away from the epicenter to 30 seconds by the end of 2009.
If they succeed, urban centers could be warned of an earthquake before the seismic waves arrive.
Sunday's earthquake, which occurred off the coast of Hualien, caused a lot of damage in Taipei, roughly 100km from the epicenter.
According to the bureau, it takes 30 seconds for seismic waves to travel from Hualien to Taipei.
Had the real-time monitoring system been in operation, they said, it could have notified Taipei within 20 seconds of detecting the quake. The 10-second warning would be enough to cut the power supply to some areas, thereby reducing the risk of fire, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and