Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years kills nine; 50 missing

Taiwan's biggest earthquake in at least 25 years killed nine people on Wednesday, injuring more than 800, while 50 went missing en route to a national park, authorities said, as rescuers used ladders to bring others to safety.

Television broadcast images of buildings tilted at precarious angles in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien, near the epicenter of the 7.2 magnitude quake, which struck just offshore at about 8 a.m. (0000GMT).

"It was very strong. It felt as if the house was going to topple," said Chang Yu-lin, 60, a worker in a hospital in Taipei, the capital.

(SABC News)

A woman who runs bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Hualien City said she scrambled to calm her guests who were frightened by the quake.

"This is the biggest earthquake I have ever experienced," said the woman, who asked to be identified only by her family name, Chan.

Strong earthquake hits Taiwan

A strong earthquake that hit Taiwan on Wednesday and measured magnitude 7.4, according to the United States Geological Survey, was the strongest to hit the island in about 25 years.

 

Note: Earthquakes with a magnitude of six or higher are shown on the chart. Magnitude is a unit of measurement of the size of seismic waves produced by an earthquake, not strength. Since the scale is logarithmic, a whole number increase in magnitude corresponds to a tenfold increase in earthquake size.

Sources: United States Geological Survey; Natural Earth

Damages Caused by Earthquake

The national legislature, a converted school built before World War II, and sections of the main airport in Taoyuan, just south of Taipei, also saw minor damage.

Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill after the earthquake, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways. Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, with some tracks twisted by the stress of the quake, as was subway service in Taipei, where sections of a newly constructed elevated line split apart but did not collapse.

The initial panic after the earthquake quickly faded on the island, which prepares for such events with drills at schools and notices issued via public media and mobile phones. Stephen Gao, a seismologist and professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said Taiwan’s readiness is among the most advanced in the world, also featuring strict building codes and a world-class seismological network.

(The Guardian)

The Economic Fallout

The economic fallout from the quake has yet to be calculated, but Taiwan is the leading manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticated computer chips and other high-technology items that are highly sensitive to seismic events. Parts of the electricity grid were shut down, possibly leading to disruptions in the supply chain and financial losses.

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, which supplies semiconductors to companies such as Apple, said it evacuated employees from some of its factories in Hsinchu, southwest of Taipei. Hsinchu authorities said water and electricity supplies for all the factories in the city’s science park were functioning as normal.

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Conclusion:

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