A geological survey has discovered three new active faults in the Earth’s crust under Taiwan, bringing the total number of faults on Taiwan proper to 36.
A study in 2012 had recorded 33 faults.
The three newly discovered active faults are in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Nantou County, the survey results released last week by the Central Geological Survey (CGS) showed.
The CGS, which is overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, defines an active fault as one that has moved within the past 100,000 years and could possibly move again.
According to the survey, the 21km Kousiaoli Fault in Tainan last moved 12,670 years ago, while the 25km Chegualin Fault in Kaohsiung last moved 7,500 years ago.
The 20km Chusiang Fault in Nantou County last moved about 13,500 years ago, the survey found.
Due to evidence of movement within the past 100,000 years and with all three faults exceeding 5km in length, the CGS said that they have been added to the list of active faults in Taiwan.
The CGS published a graphic showing the locations of Taiwan’s 36 active faults, which it said could be used as a reference for land management, reviewing land development, disaster prevention and control, and designing earthquake-resistant buildings.
The latest major earthquake recorded in Taiwan occurred on Monday last week, when a magnitude 6.0 quake struck off the coast of Hualien County at a depth of 19.4km.
While the earthquake did not cause any serious damage, it disrupted travel along some lines operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration, as well as the Taipei and Taoyuan MRT systems, affecting thousands of commuters.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS