An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 trembles across the whole island of Taiwan, bringing down buildings in a southern metropolis and causing a tsunami to crash upon islands in southern Japan.
A strong earthquake that shook the whole island of Taiwan caused buildings in a southern city to collapse and a tsunami that hit southern Japanese islands and washed ashore.
Authorities reported that the earthquake on Wednesday caused roughly 60 injuries and at least one fatality.
In the sparsely inhabited Hualien, a five-story building showed signs of severe damage, with the first floor collapsing and the remaining stories sagging at a 45-degree angle. Tiles from older buildings and some of the newer office complexes in Taipei, the capital, collapsed.
The 23 million-person island saw the suspension of train and subway services in Taipei. However, everything in the capital soon reverted to normal, with kids heading back to school and the morning traffic seeming to go as usual.
The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 7.4, whereas Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency reported a value of 7.2. About 18 kilometers southwest of Hualien, and approximately 35 kilometers deep, it struck at 7:58 in the morning.
Wu Chien-fu, the director of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring bureau, reported that the effects were felt as far away as Kinmen, an island under Taiwanese administration off the coast of China.
A Taipei seismology official reported that the “strongest earthquake in 25 years” had struck Taiwan, shaking the entire island and bringing down structures.
An hour after the first earthquake, Taipei experienced many aftershocks. One of the latter earthquakes, according to the USGS, had a magnitude of 6.5 and a depth of 11.8 kilometers.
A tsunami of up to three meters was predicted by the Japan Meteorological Agency for the Okinawa island group in southern Japan. About fifteen minutes after the earthquake, a thirty-centimeter wave was seen off the coast of Yonaguni Island.
According to JAMA, waves most likely also struck the Yaeyama and Miyako island beaches.
A banner on national broadcaster NHK read, “Evacuate!” “A tsunami is on its way. Please go right away, an NHK anchor pleaded. “Don’t give up. Don’t turn around.”
‘High tsunami waves’ are being warned of by the Philippines
“The strongest in 25 years” was how the director of Taipei’s Seismology Center described the earthquake that struck the east of the country.
“The earthquake is shallow and occurs near land. It is the strongest in 25 years since the 1999 earthquake, which killed 2,400 people, Wu Chien-fu told reporters. “It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands… it’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake.”
Additionally, the Philippines issued a warning of “high tsunami waves” and requested that people avoid coastal areas. Hours after the earthquake, the warning was canceled in Japan and the Philippines.
The State Seismology Institute issued an advice for 23 provinces where it predicted “high tsunami waves” to strike, saying, “The people in the coastal areas of the following provinces are strongly advised to evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland.”
Hawaii and the US territory of Guam are not at risk from tsunamis, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Taiwan is located along the “Ring of Fire,” a chain of seismic faults that circles the Pacific Ocean and is the epicenter of most earthquakes worldwide.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
