Taiwan was rocked by a series of earthquakes on Monday and early Tuesday, the strongest measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, partially collapsing two buildings and keeping terrified residents awake at night. The earthquake was an aftershock of a magnitude 7.3 quake authorities said killed 17 three weeks ago.
Wu Jianfu, director of Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau’s earthquake center, said the 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast shortly after 5pm local time on Monday. A few minutes later, a series of smaller tremors occurred in the same area.
Two buildings in the city of Hualien partially collapsed and some residents were evacuated, and schools and offices in Hualien County were ordered to close on Tuesday due to the ongoing earthquake threat. According to local news media. No injuries or deaths were reported as of Tuesday morning.
Mr Wu told a news conference on Monday night that the tremors were aftershocks of the deadly April 3 earthquake, the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years. The epicenter of the earthquake was also in the Hualien County area.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 180 earthquakes had been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to the Central Weather Service. The strongest earthquake, a magnitude 6, occurred off Taiwan’s east coast at 2:26 a.m., and a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred at 2:32 a.m., about 10 miles off Hualien County. The last major earthquake happened around 8am on Tuesday. According to Central Meteorological Bureau.
Chen Meihui, 58, a retired salesman living in Hualien, said he was “feeling very sad” because of the earthquake.
“I haven’t been sleeping well since the earthquake last month,” he said Tuesday morning. “We can only pray that our house is strong enough to see us through this difficult time.”
Chris Buckley Contribution reporting.
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