Update | Taiwan hit by 5.8-magnitude earthquake, aftershock alert for Friday and Saturday
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan on Thursday morning, shaking high-rise buildings across the island and sending jittery residents onto the streets.
The quake struck off the coast of Yilan county in northeastern Taiwan at a a depth of 17.5km, according to the Central Weather Bureau’s earthquake centre.
The quake was followed by aftershocks, including one of magnitude 5.5, the centre’s spokesman Chang Chien-hsing said.
The major quake had about a quarter of the power of an atomic bomb, and the series of quakes was caused by the expansion of the seabed near Okinawa
Various other places in Taiwan, including eastern Hualien county, recorded magnitude-4 quakes, Chang said.
No major casualties or damage had been reported, police said.
“The major quake had about a quarter of the power of an atomic bomb, and the series of quakes was caused by the expansion of the seabed near Okinawa [in Japan],” Chang said.
He said more were expected on Friday and Saturday.
Because the earthquakes were quite shallow, the shock waves would last “somewhat longer” in urban areas where there were high-rise buildings, Chang said.
He advised residents to be on the alert in the next two days.
The quake rattled much of the island, with panicked residents rushing out onto the streets, according to media reports.
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Primary school pupils were evacuated outdoors across Yilan county, local television footage showed.
In New Taipei City, masonry fell from at least one building, slightly injuring a security guard, SET TV reported.
Other footage showed a wine shop in Taipei with broken bottles and wine strewn across the floor.
Police also reported that the plate glass window of a bank in Taipei shattered during the main quake, but no one was injured.
Operations of the island’s two nuclear power plants in New Taipei City were not affected by the quake and no damage was reported at either facility, the Taiwan Power Company said.
But a rockslide was reported in Taoyuan in northern Taiwan, blocking traffic in the area, the Taoyuan government said.
The island’s legislature reported a blackout, which brought a legislative question session to an abrupt halt.
The meeting resumed in the afternoon after power was restored.
Rocks were reported to be falling from the high ground of Gueishan Island, about 10km east of Yilan, according to TV footage.
But the Presidential Office said it would not affect outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou’s plan to visit the island today, in probably his last presidential inspection of Taiwan’s islands.
Also yesterday, Taiwan unveiled its mobile earthquake alarm system linked automatically to all 4G mobile phones in areas affected by the quakes.
But many residents complained that they did not receive the alerts, designed by the National Communications Commission to direct evacuations in the event of quakes of magnitude 5 or above.
“[The missing alerts] were due mainly to either poor phone signal reception or the model or the software versions of the phones had not been updated,” a commission official said.
He said the alerts could be received on 19 models of mobile phones, including Apple’s iPhones.
The United States Geological Survey also recorded the earthquake in northeastern Taiwan.
It measured it at magnitude 5.6.
