GThe multi-story residential building in Hualien in eastern Taiwan leans eerily towards the street. It could tip over at any moment. At least that’s how it seems. A severe earthquake left a picture of devastation in many places on the East Asian island on Wednesday morning (local time). There are dead, injured and completely destroyed cars and buildings. Two Germans were temporarily trapped in a tunnel. Hours after the quake, the death toll is at least nine. It is expected that the number of victims will continue to rise.
Shortly before 8 a.m. an earthquake shook the entire island. It had a magnitude of 7.2, according to Taiwanese data, and was the strongest in almost 25 years. Its epicenter was just a few kilometers from Hualien. The US earthquake monitoring station registered a magnitude of 7.4. In Japan the magnitude was even measured at 7.7. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded around Hualien alone, even eight hours after the quake.
In the early evening (local time) the authorities spoke of 9 deaths and more than 800 injuries. Dozens were still believed to be trapped in tunnels and buildings. The two Germans were later freed from the tunnel on Wednesday evening, according to authorities. Details were not yet known.
“I have never felt an earthquake like this since I moved from the capital Taipei to an earthquake-prone coastal city three years ago,” a Hualien resident told the German Press Agency. The full extent of the disaster could not yet be predicted hours after the tremors.
Memory of an almost forgotten catastrophe
According to his own words, the man was in the office when the earth began to shake. Some of his colleagues tried to lean against walls and do nothing. “We have never seen such a terrible incident before,” said the 54-year-old. Memories came back to him: “I thought about the terrible experience of the big quake of 1999.” At that time, a magnitude 7.3 quake caused severe destruction in the middle of Taiwan. There were more than 2,400 deaths.
7.4 on the Richter scale
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Strong earthquake shakes Taiwan
Taiwan lies on the edge of two tectonic plates: the Eurasian and the Philippine. The island with more than 23 million inhabitants is therefore at great risk from earthquakes. After the 1999 disaster, the government revised its guidelines to make buildings more earthquake-resistant. In addition, Taipei took an example from earthquake-experienced Japan and adopted disaster prevention measures. At the same time, the government poured more money into earthquake monitoring and built stations to measure real-time earth activity across the country.
Tsunami warnings in several countries
According to eyewitnesses, the quake was also clearly felt in and around the capital Taipei. In New Taipei, which surrounds the capital, three people were injured when a warehouse collapsed. Residents of the capital reported that furnishings and dishes were broken in their houses and apartments. Several large cities temporarily suspended public rail transport. Express train services were also temporarily interrupted. The power went out in tens of thousands of households.
Taiwan, China, Japan and the Philippines warned of tsunamis for several hours. The warnings were later relaxed and then lifted. In Japan, northeast of Taiwan, the earthquake triggered a warning of a three-meter-high tsunami for nearby islands in southwestern Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture. Residents of the affected islands were called upon to seek safety.
Authorities in the Philippines also issued a tsunami warning. The National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said high tsunami waves were expected that could last for hours. People in several provinces of the island nation were asked to seek safety and leave the coastal regions.
China offers help
In neighboring China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, the quake was a main topic on state television news. Chinese authorities are very concerned about the situation, said Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian in Beijing. The mainland is monitoring the situation and is ready to offer disaster assistance. It remained unclear whether Taiwan would accept China’s help. There are always tensions between the two states over Beijing’s territorial claims, even though an independent and democratically elected government has been in power in Taiwan for decades.
The quake also had an impact on the economy: Taiwan’s important semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, for example, stopped production, as the authority of the industrial park in the city of Hsinchu announced. The company reportedly evacuated workers from production during the quake. Other companies also temporarily stopped work. The state-owned energy supplier reported that more than 308,000 households in Taiwan lost power due to the quake. Tens of thousands were still temporarily without power afterwards.
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