The earthquake that hit Taiwan today recorded a magnitude of 5.3: the US Geophysical Institute USGS reports it on its website. The earthquake was located off the central-eastern coast of the island, 30 km south of Hualien City and at a depth of 8.9 km. No tsunami warnings are reported.
The “strong” earthquake was felt in Taipeicapital of Taiwan, where already at the beginning of April two strong earthquakes of magnitude 7.4 and 6.5 were recorded, causing around ten deaths and over a thousand injuries.
The USGC map with the epicenters of today’s earthquake in Taiwan
The island disputed by China experienced the most devastating earthquake on September 21, 1999which caused over 2,400 deaths and more than 11,000 injuries. The 7.6 magnitude earthquake which caused a disaster remembered as 921, forced earthquake prevention to be placed at the top of the political agenda. Since then in Tapei, like in Japan (where there is a very high seismic density), the building rules have been tightened and made much more stringent, many buildings have been renovated with anti-seismic logic.
In this video dating back to the earthquake in early April it is possible to see the power of the tremors preceding today’s.