Tuesday, April 2, 2024 – A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years, prompting mainland China, Japan, and the Philippines to issue tsunami warnings.
Taiwan’s government said four people had
died in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien near
where the epicentre was, with 711 injured.
The fire department said 77 people remained
trapped, some in collapsed buildings in Hualien.
The 7.3 magnitude quake toppled at least 26
buildings and left others tilting, particularly close to the epicentre in the
eastern county of Hualien.
The earthquake was the strongest to hit
Taiwan since 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude quake left 2,400 people dead and 50,000
buildings damaged.
A small tsunami also hit southern Japanese islands following the
earthquake.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary
Yoshimasa Hayashi said there has been no report of injury or damage in the
country. He urged the residents in the Okinawa region to stay on high ground
until all tsunami advisories are lifted.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
(TSMC), the world’s biggest producer of advanced microchips, partially shut
down its operations after Wednesday’s earthquake. Three other semiconductor
factories also temporarily halted parts of their operations.
“To ensure the safety of personnel, some fabs were evacuated according to company procedure. We are currently confirming the details of the impact,” TCMP said.
The self-governing island off the southern
coast of China is the focus of geopolitical tension between Washington and
Beijing, which wants Taiwan to reunify with the mainland.
Following the earthquake, Taipei
resident Hsien-hsuen Keng said: “Earthquakes are a common occurrence, and I’ve
grown accustomed to them. But today was the first time I was scared to tears by
an earthquake. I was awakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense
shaking before.”
She said her fifth-floor apartment shook so
hard that “apart from earthquake drills in elementary school, this was the
first time I had experienced such a situation”.
Wu Chien-fu, the head of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring
bureau, said effects were detected as far away as Kinmen, a
Taiwanese-controlled island off the coast of China.
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