Taiwan was shaken by dozens of earthquakes overnight and into April 23 (Tuesday) that left buildings swaying and some tilting, with the government saying they were aftershocks from a huge deadly quake that hit the island more than two weeks ago.
The strongest, which the U.S. Geological Survey measured at magnitude 6.1, hit around 2:30 am (1830 GMT) followed minutes later by a 6.0 tremor.
Taipei’s Central Weather Administration put them at 6.0 and 6.3, respectively.
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Authorities said there were no casualties reported so far, but the non-stop shaking meant a restless night even for those in the capital Taipei about 150kms north, where walls and glass panels rattled in swaying homes.
“I was too scared to move and stayed in bed,” said office worker Kevin Lin, 53, in Taipei, who told AFP he was jolted awake by the intense quakes.
Around 8:00 a.m., a 5.8-magnitude tremor shook the capital as commuters made their way to work.
The tremors started on April 22 around 5:00 p.m. and by about 10:30 a.m. the next day the Central Weather Administration said it had recorded more than 200 quakes.
All had originated from Hualien on the central east coast of Taiwan.
The mountainous county was the epicentre of a magnitude-7.4 quake that hit April 3, which Taiwan said was the “strongest in 25 years”, triggering landslides that blocked roads and severely damaged buildings around the main Hualien city.
At least 17 people were killed, with the latest body found in a quarry on April 13.
A hotel building in Hualien that was previously damaged started tilting at an angle on Tuesday after the quakes, according to footage obtained by AFP.
“Please come out for your safety. Let’s evacuate first OK? Anyone still inside? Please come down,” shouted a firefighter to the residents of nearby buildings.
Hsu-ho Lin told local news channel Formosa TV that he had immediately ran over to the hotel building because his grandma lives there and she “kept refusing to leave”.
“My grandmother insisted on staying and my grandfather could not persuade her,” Lin said, adding that they were now evacuating from the building.
The first floor of a nearby residential building was flattened by the quakes on April 23, its tilting frame precariously propped up by metal beams.
Tenants had already evacuated from there after the April 3 quake, and the building was awaiting demolition.
Hualien county government announced that schools and offices would be closed Tuesday due to the continuous aftershocks.
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This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows Taiwan’s president-elect and current Vice-President Lai Ching-te (3rd R) surveying damage in Hualien, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
In this photo released by the Taiwan Air Force Command, members of a search and rescue team prepare to deploy on a Taiwan Air Force C-130 from southern Taiwan’s Pingtung military air base en route for Hualien on on April 3, 2024.
In this photo released by the Hualien City Government, government workers and journalists are seen near firefighters working near a leaning building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Hualien, eastern Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
Firefighters work at the site where a building collapsed following the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan, in this handout provided by Taiwan’s National Fire Agency on April 3, 2024.
An area of a damaged hotel is cordoned off, following an earthquake in Hualien, Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
In this image taken from a video footage run by TVBS, residents rescue a child from a partially collapsed building in Hualien, eastern Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows people looking at a damaged building in Hualien, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
In this image taken from a video footage run by TVBS, a partially collapsed building is seen in Hualien, eastern Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
This screengrab taken from video footage captured by an onlooker shows rockfall from a mountain near Kanan bridge in Hualien county on April 3, 2024 after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows emergency workers attending to a survivor, who had been trapped in a damaged building, in New Taipei City, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
Passengers wait to board a south bound train as some train services were suspended in the aftermath of an earthquake in Taipei, Taiwan on April 3, 2024.
This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows damage to buildings in Xindian district of New Taipei City, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows a barricade erected around debris in the compound of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
This photo taken by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on April 3, 2024 shows emergency workers working to locate survivors from a damaged building in New Taipei City, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan’s east.
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Withstanding quakes
Taiwan sees frequent earthquakes due to its location at the junction of two tectonic plates, and the April 3 quake was followed by more than 1,100 aftershocks — causing rockfalls and tremors around Hualien.
A Taipei government seismologist said the latest “swarm” of tremors originated to the south of the main April quake, unlike the earlier ones which had been mainly to the north.
Seismologists Judith Hubbard and Kyle Bradley agreed the activity appeared to have shifted to becoming more concentrated on the southern side of the April 3 rupture.
“The new cluster of seismicity is not a typical mainshock-aftershock sequence,” they wrote in their newsletter “Earthquake Insights”.
The recent quakes appeared to have stepped up in magnitude over time, they said — counter to the usual pattern of a large one that gradually decays.
It remains unclear if this could trigger a large earthquake again, but “this swarm is a certainly good opportunity for people in the region to revisit their recently tested earthquake preparations”, they said.
The April 3 tremor was the most serious in Taiwan since 1999, when a magnitude-7.6 quake hit the island. The death toll then was far higher, with 2,400 people killed in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.
Stricter building regulations — including enhanced seismic requirements in its building codes — and widespread public disaster awareness had staved off a more serious catastrophe in the April 3 quake.
In Taipei, Lin said news of the hotel tilting in Hualien had scared him.
“I live in a 40-year-old apartment and it really worries me whether the apartment can withstand so many earthquakes,” he told AFP.
He added that while the Taiwanese public are taught what to do when a tremor hits, “it is only useful for a small quake”.
“For a big one, it doesn’t really matter how much quake response you’re taught.”
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