People should be prepared for further damage caused by aftershocks following a magnitude 6.8 earthquake at 2:44pm yesterday, although its aftershocks are expected to be of smaller magnitude and occur less frequently than yesterday’s quakes, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
Bureau data showed that the quake’s epicenter was 42.7km north of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 7km, which is within Taitung’s Chihshang Township (池上).
The magnitude 6.8 quake, the strongest recorded this year, occurred as the nation was recovering from damage caused by a magnitude 6.4 temblor on Saturday night, with its epicenter in Guanshan Township (關山).
Photo provided by the Executive Yuan
That quake was one of the 73 foreshocks of yesterday’s earthquake, CWB Seismological Center Director Chen Kuo-chang (陳國昌) told reporters.
Yesterday’s quake is also the eighth with a magnitude exceeding 6 this year, Chen said, adding that it could be ranked the sixth or seventh-largest earthquake in Taiwan’s seismic history, following the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and the large aftershocks that followed.
Although few earthquakes have occurred in the past 50 years near the epicenters of this weekend’s quakes, they originated from the inner part of where the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate touch, Chen said.
Compared with the outer side, which is off the coast of Taitung’s Chenggong Township (成功), the inner side has a more rigid rock formation, where earthquakes happen less frequently, he said.
The seismic energy that has accumulated on the inner side of the plates’ meeting point over the past five decades was first released through the magnitude 6.4 earthquake on Saturday, which has likely been balanced by the main earthquake yesterday.
“We cannot predict the occurrences of earthquakes. Theoretically, however, the aftershocks should be of smaller magnitude compared to that of the main earthquake. I estimate that aftershocks are not likely to occur as frequently as the foreshocks. The number of aftershocks exceeding magnitude 5 will also be fewer than the foreshocks,” Chen said.
An aftershock of magnitude 5.4 occurred shortly after yesterday’s earthquake, he added.
A similar situation occurred in 2018, when a magnitude 6.32 earthquake on the Milun Fault triggered an aftershock of magnitude 5.92, he said.
“The Milun Fault is a geologically fragmented zone, and the seismic activities on the zone generated activities in other geological zones from the north to south, as well as from land to sea. The aftershocks lasted about a month, with the number reaching 30 per hour, or three to four per day,” he said, adding that the frequency of aftershocks from this weekend’s quake would not reach that number.
The public warning system for natural disasters functioned normally yesterday, with residents in eight cities and counties south of Chiayi County receiving warnings 10 seconds before the main earthquake, Chen said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) urged people to be vigilant for further aftershocks in the coming hours.
“Water and electricity supplies in some areas have also been affected by the earthquake,” she wrote on Facebook. “The related disaster relief work is in full swing.”
Additional reporting by AFP
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS