The southwest and northeast coasts of the country are the most vulnerable to tsunamis in the event of a strong underwater earthquake occurring in the South China Sea, according to the results of a study released yesterday.
Regions that are considered at high risk include the shoreline between Hengchun (
The study was conducted by Wu Tso-ren (
Wu reported the results of his study during the South China Sea Tsunami Workshop 2007 held by the Academia Sinica's Institute of Earth Sciences.
Tsunamis are usually caused by undersea earthquakes measuring at least 7.2 in magnitude that have a focal depth no deeper than 30km.
If the South China Sea experiences an undersea earthquake with a magnitude similar to that of the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a tsunami 8m to 10m high is likely to hit Hengchun approximately one hour after the quake, and Lotung and Suao are likely to see a tsunami 6m to 8m high, Wu said.
Referring to a report by the US Geological Survey assessing the potential risk a tsunami source along the Pacific subduction zones, Wu noted that the Luzon trench has been identified as a high risk zone, while the Ryukyu trench and the North Sulawesi trench have been identified as medium risk zones.
The report says these subduction zones can rupture and generate large tsunamis that will have a significant impact on the countries in the South China region.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
RSS