A strong earthquake shook the entire island of Taiwan on Wednesday morning. The east coast of the island, which is very seismically active, is particularly badly affected.
Numerous buildings were destroyed by the earthquake. Pictured is a partially collapsed building in Hualien in eastern Taiwan.
Imago
A severe earthquake shook all of Taiwan on Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Swiss time). The epicenter of the earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, was a few kilometers off the east coast of the island near the city of Hualien.
Quake strongly felt in the capital Taipei
According to Taiwan’s weather authorities, the earthquake occurred at a depth of only 15 kilometers and was felt accordingly strongly. Buildings in the capital Taipei, around 120 kilometers away, also swayed heavily.
Taiwanese authorities reported seven deaths in remote mountainous areas of the Hualien region. Local television stations showed images of buildings whose bottom floor had collapsed and were leaning menacingly to one side.
The epicenter was on the southeastern coast of Hualien city
83 buildings are affected nationwide, most in and around Hualien. But severely damaged buildings were also reported in Changhua County on the west coast, with one completely collapsing. The rescue workers were able to save several dozen people alive. According to the fire department, 127 are still trapped in the tunnels or buildings, including two German citizens. The two are therefore in a traffic tunnel in a national park north of Hualien. In total, more than 820 injuries were reported.
Numerous bridges and roads were also destroyed, and video images showed large landslides. The exact extent of the destruction and how much it hinders rescue efforts is still unclear.
Power outages, but no problems at nuclear power plants
Since the morning, weather authorities have recorded more than 100 aftershocks, many of which were also felt in Taipei. The subway resumed operations after a brief interruption, and reported power outages in the capital were quickly resolved.
Across the country, electricity supplier Taipower had reportedly restored power to most households. As the official Taiwanese news agency CNA reported, almost 367,800 households had power again on Wednesday afternoon (local time), meaning 99 percent. Of the 3,500 units that did not yet have electricity, around 2,400 were in the area around the city of Hualien.
Taipower also reported that there were no extraordinary incidents at the country’s two active nuclear power plants (nuclear power plants). Since the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, nuclear power plants have been viewed with concern in Taiwan. The country has decided to gradually phase out nuclear power.
However, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima was not caused by the earthquake at that time, which was significantly stronger than the current one in Taiwan, but by the subsequent tsunami. On Wednesday morning, the authorities in Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines issued tsunami warnings, which have since been lifted.
In Taiwan, 87,000 households were without power after the quake.
AP
Taiwan in general and the east coast in particular are active seismic zones – a large number of fault lines run through the country. Smaller earthquakes occur all the time; in addition to Hualien, Yilan and Taitung counties are most frequently affected.
Almost 25 years ago, on September 21, 1999, a severe earthquake struck Nantou County in the center of the island. Almost 2,500 people died and more than 11,000 were injured. More than 50,000 buildings were destroyed. Poor construction quality was partly responsible for the high number of victims. Since then, building regulations have been tightened.