More than 80 earthquakes were felt periodically in Taiwan

Taiwan has been shaken by earthquakes again and again. More than 80 earthquakes were felt along Taiwan’s east coast from Monday evening (April 22) to midnight local time. The strongest tremor was 6.3 on the Richter scale.

This information has been informed in a report of CNA based in Singapore on Tuesday.

The quakes were centered in the eastern county of the larger village of Hualien, where at least 17 people were killed after a 7.2-magnitude tremor struck on April 3, the report said.

A hotel that was damaged by the April 3 earthquake has not reopened, Hualien’s fire department said Tuesday morning. It is a little more inclined.

However, no casualty has been reported, said the fire department.

According to Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Administration, the first strong earthquake had a magnitude of 5.5. It struck at 5:08 pm on Monday. After that, tremors were felt intermittently till Tuesday morning.

Earlier on April 3, the strongest earthquake in 25 years killed at least 17 people and injured more than 700 others in Taiwan. At least 77 people were trapped inside tunnels and collapsed buildings. The earthquake was also felt in neighboring China, the Philippines and Japan. At that time people were going to work and students were going to school.

According to the United States Geological Survey, USGS, the magnitude of the earthquake on the east coast of Taiwan was 7.4 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was 18 km south of Hualien, Taiwan, with an origin at a depth of 15.5 km. Television images showed several buildings leaning dangerously. The sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien suffered the most damage.

At this time, weather officials said that the storm is still felt in Taipei. More than 50 strikes have been recorded so far. Taiwan’s power management company, Taipower, said power had been restored in many areas during the quake, but supplies had returned to normal. Two nuclear power plants in Taiwan were unaffected by the earthquake.

According to the country’s official news agency, in 1999, an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 killed about 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.

Officials say it is the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years.
Sources: AFP and CNA