One person was injured and a highway bridge was damaged after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck off the southeast coast of Taiwan at 1:41am yesterday. Officials said aftershocks of up to magnitude 6.0 could occur in the next three days.
An 88-year-old man in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱) was taken to a local hospital after being injured by shards of glass that fell on him during the earthquake.
The Yuxing Bridge (玉興橋) on the Suhua Highway (Highway No. 9) was temporarily closed after it partially collapsed during the quake, the Directorate-General of Highways said, adding that a stretch of the highway between Changbin Township and Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里) was also temporarily shut.
Photo courtesy of Yang Chin-ming
Fallen rocks and debris were found on Highway 11 and other highways in mountainous areas.
Taiwan Power Co said that 1,203 households in Pingtung County reported power outages immediately after the quake due to a tripped distribution feeder.
Power was restored by 5am yesterday, the company said.
Photo courtesy of a member of the public via CNA
Junior-high and elementary schools across the nation reported damage totaling NT$41.54 million (US$1.45 million), Ministry of Education data showed.
The quake destroyed a shrimp farmer’s pond in Taitung, washing away about 100,000 shrimp and causing estimated damage of NT$2 million. Dozens of homes in Hualien and Taitung counties were also damaged.
Semiconductor manufacturing firms said their overall operations were not disrupted by the earthquake.
Photo courtesy of Liu Shih-hung via CNA
The Central Weather Bureau’s Seismology Center said the quake was the strongest recorded so far this year.
Its epicenter was 62.6km south of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 30.6km, center data showed.
A magnitude 6.1 aftershock occurred at 1:43am, with the epicenter 61.2km southwest of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 16.3km.
Photo courtesy of Yuli Township Government Office
Three earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or larger have occurred in Taiwan so far this year — the two that hit yesterday and another that struck off the east coast on Jan. 3. On average, Taiwan experiences about 2.5 magnitude 6.0 or larger quakes each year.
Seismology Center Director Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌) told reporters that yesterday’s main earthquake was the fifth-largest that the nation has experienced since the Jiji earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, which measured magnitude 7.3.
Aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 to 6.0 could occur over the next three days, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of Chihsi Borough Warden Liu Ying-kai
As of 6pm yesterday, the main earthquake had generated one aftershock exceeding magnitude 6.0; four aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 to 6.0; 39 ranging from magnitude 4.0 to 5.0; and 22 measuring magnitude 3.0 to 4.0, Chen told the Taipei Times.
“The earthquake generated more aftershocks than we had expected,” he said.
The epicenter was in a geologically fractured zone between the Philippine Sea Plate and Euroasian Plate, Chen said, adding that the two magnitude 6.0 earthquakes were the two largest that have been recorded in the zone in nearly half a century.
“Yesterday’s earthquake was caused by a collision of the two rigid tectonic plates,” Chen said. “When the plates accumulate seismic energy over time, they need to find a spot to release it, which could lead to a large quake. This is what we have seen with the earthquake today.”
Seismic movements have occurred more frequently since 2020, Chen said, adding that many experts agree that the “Pacific Ring of Fire” has entered a seismically active phase.
Many people said that they received an earthquake alert on their mobile phones before they felt shaking.
Chen said that the alert system gave people 15 seconds to react before the main earthquake struck, thanks to a significant increase in the number of seismic activity observation stations that have been built since 2020.
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
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
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
RSS