A 7.4 Richter-scale earthquake shook the wild East Taiwan coast of late Wednesday morning. The processing of such seismic activity, which also led to a warning against tsunami, took place around 11:52 LT.
In the center of the very powerful earthquake (magnitude 6.4 according to global authorities) that was centered about 16 kilometers away from the city of Hualien, whole buildings collapsed from the hard impact. Following that, there was a shake of 6.5.
The US Tsunami Warning System went into state alert, and coastal areas within 300 km (around 186 miles) from the epicenter were said to be possibly affected by the tidal waves in China, Taiwan and Japan.
While the Japan also warned of possible tsunami for southern islands Okinawa group and issued the advice of tsunami up to 3 meters. It added that its coastal stations were recording distance waves and another 30 minutes after that, it said that the first swell of the wave had already struck the shores of Miyako and Yaeyama islands.
Though the death toll is expected to reach 100, the agency of Japan Meteorological later lowered its prediction to 0.03 feet (1 meter) A range of 30 cm(1ft) was noted on one own island, while smaller ones were observed on different islands. While the fact that the generation of large waves was not recorded in Ishigaki and Miyako Islands was also confirmed. The Japanese representatives were using military aircraft to surveil the area around Okinawa for the purpose of getting more information about the shoaling effect.
According to Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi, there have been no casualties or tremendous material damage in Japan. He suggested people in Okinawa region abandon the low ground until all tsunami advisories were between white and yellow on the warning scale.
Unlike the past, China did not issue any warnings for the Chinese mainland and there was neither any threat to Hawaii nor Guam.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center confirmed at this time that while the tsunami threat had passed two hours later after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan there were nevertheless areas of potentially damaging waves remaining.
In Hualien, a lightly populated area, a five-story building was heavily damaged, with its first floor collapsed and the rest of the building leaning at a 45-degree angle. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell in old buildings and some new office complexes. Schools evacuated their students to sports fields, outfitting them with protective yellow helmets. In the midst of the ongoing aftershocks, many small children also wore bicycle helmets in order to safeguard themselves from objects that were falling.
There was no immediate word of casualties in Hualien, where a deadly earthquake in 2018 collapsed a historic hotel and other buildings.
Train service was suspended on the island of 23 million people, as was subway service in Taipei, where a newly built above-ground line was partially derailed. The ceilings and walls of the national legislature, a pre-World War II school building that was transformed, were also damaged.
Traffic was at a virtual standstill along the east coast, with landslides and falling debris blocking roads and tunnels. These damaged vehicles, although it was not clear if anyone was injured.
Despite the shaking, which came just before 8 a.m. and coincided with the morning rush hour, the initial panic quickly subsided on an island that regularly shakes with earthquakes and prepares for them with drills in schools and public information disseminated via media and mobile phones.
Wu Chien-fu, head of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring bureau, said the effects were felt as far as Kinmen, a Taiwanese-controlled island off the coast of China. Several aftershocks were felt in Taipei in the hour after the initial earthquake.
As per China’s media, the shaking experienced in Shanghai and some of the provinces along China’s southeastern coast were bounded by the visibility. Mainland China and Taiwan is approximately 160 km or 100 miles away. Although, neither China nor its management offerings issued warnings of tsunami for the Chinese continental region.
Invoking abnormality, during residents of Fujian Province in China, they professed suffering shakingh, Jimu outlet News affirms. One guy sent a message to Jimu saying the vibration disturbed him and continued for more than a minute.
The residents of Thaiyab coastal north of the Philippines were asked by the Government to relocate to higher ground due to the possibility of a tsunami, however, no significant tsunami was reported three hours after the earthquake.
According to Teresito Bacolcol – a scientist from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology – the residents of the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, and Isabela were told not to go back to their houses until the tsunami alert was lifted and no danger was coming.
In the recent years, the most devastating earthquake in Taiwan took place on the 21 of September, year 1999 as it had the magnitude of 7.7 and it killed 2, 400 people, injured almost 100, 000 people, and destroyed thousands of buildings.
Taiwan is found among the Pacific Rim of Fire area, which is famous for the seismic activity. This area circles the Pacific Ocean, where most earthquakes are taking place.
