A project to install undersea cables along Taiwan’s east and south coasts, reducing resulting casualties through the faster detection of earthquakes and tsunami, has been completed, the Central Weather Bureau announced yesterday.
Because Taiwan is at the collision and crushing zone between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, earthquakes that threaten people’s lives happen frequently, the bureau said.
As 70 percent of earthquakes that are magnitude 6.0 or stronger have a high potential for generating tsunami, planning began in 2007 to lay undersea cables along the east coast, where most of Taiwan’s quakes occur, it said.
Forty-five kilometers of cables were laid off Yilan County’s Toucheng Township (頭城) in November 2011, the bureau said.
By October 2017, the length was extended to 115km, from Toucheng to the southeast coast, with three detection points along the route, the bureau said.
In 2017, additional funding was obtained through the Cabinet’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, enabling the length to again be extended, it added.
“By the end of this year, the total length of the undersea cables used to detect earthquakes and tsunamis reached 735km, with nine detection points built along the route,” the bureau said.
Each detection point is equipped with an accelerometer and a tsunami detector, the bureau said.
The deepest section of the cable lies 5,796m below sea level, while the deepest detection point lies 5,554m below sea level, it said.
Although the technology to forecast occurrences of earthquakes or tsunami has yet to be developed, the seismic detection network makes it possible for people to be warned about 10 seconds in advance of possible damage by earthquakes along the nation’s northeast coast, it said.
For tsunami, the system can provide people with an early warning of about 20 to 30 minutes, the bureau added.
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