64 hurt, panic and fires ensue as large quake rattles Taiwan
Source: Agencies |
March 5, 2010, Friday
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A POWERFUL magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocked southern Taiwan yesterday terrifying residents, disrupting communications and causing at least one big fire.
Sixty-four people were injured, fire officials said.
No tsunami alert was issued and the earthquake was centered in the same mountainous region of rural Kaohsiung County that endured the brunt of the damage from Typhoon Morakot, a storm that killed about 700 people last August.
The quake caused a brief dip in the island's stock market, with semiconductor firms including TSMC, the world's No. 1 contract chip maker, falling on concerns production could be hit.
TSMC said in a statement later yesterday its plants in southern Tainan had gradually resumed production.
"Our initial estimate is that the earthquake caused the equivalent of 1.5 days loss of wafer movement for the company in total," the statement said.
Taiwan actor Chu Chung-heng said he and other passengers panicked when the high-speed train on which they were traveling was dislodged from its track.
"Many people in my car were screaming," he said. "I was so scared that I couldn't make a sound.
"The train shook very hard, and I thought it was going to overturn."
Rail service in southern and central Taiwan was suspended, as was the state-of-the-art subway system in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city with a population of 1.5 million. Kaohsiung is about 400 kilometers south of Taipei.
In nearby Tainan, a fire broke out in a textile factory just after the quake hit, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air.
Power outages struck Taipei and at least one county to the south, and telephone service in many parts of Taiwan was hit-and-miss.
Kuo Kai-wen, director of the island's Weather Bureau Seismology Center, said the quake was not geologically related to the massive temblor that hit Chile last Saturday, but its intensity was unusual for the area.
"This is the biggest quake to hit Kaohsiung in more than a century," he said.
The quake's epicenter was near the town of Jiashian, especially hard hit by last year's typhoon. A Kaohsiung County official told CTI TV news that some temporary housing built for typhoon survivors collapsed.
Military authorities said troops were sent to Jiashian to report on the extent of the damage.
In nearby Liugui, an unidentified high school student described the quake as terrifying. "Everyone was running out of the classroom. Some people fell in the rush," she told ETTV.
A spokesman for Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said authorities had been instructed to follow the quake situation closely and take steps to mitigate damage and dislocation.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan.
A magnitude 7.6 temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.
In 2006, a magnitude 6.7 quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service for millions throughout Asia.
Sixty-four people were injured, fire officials said.
No tsunami alert was issued and the earthquake was centered in the same mountainous region of rural Kaohsiung County that endured the brunt of the damage from Typhoon Morakot, a storm that killed about 700 people last August.
The quake caused a brief dip in the island's stock market, with semiconductor firms including TSMC, the world's No. 1 contract chip maker, falling on concerns production could be hit.
TSMC said in a statement later yesterday its plants in southern Tainan had gradually resumed production.
"Our initial estimate is that the earthquake caused the equivalent of 1.5 days loss of wafer movement for the company in total," the statement said.
Taiwan actor Chu Chung-heng said he and other passengers panicked when the high-speed train on which they were traveling was dislodged from its track.
"Many people in my car were screaming," he said. "I was so scared that I couldn't make a sound.
"The train shook very hard, and I thought it was going to overturn."
Rail service in southern and central Taiwan was suspended, as was the state-of-the-art subway system in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city with a population of 1.5 million. Kaohsiung is about 400 kilometers south of Taipei.
In nearby Tainan, a fire broke out in a textile factory just after the quake hit, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air.
Power outages struck Taipei and at least one county to the south, and telephone service in many parts of Taiwan was hit-and-miss.
Kuo Kai-wen, director of the island's Weather Bureau Seismology Center, said the quake was not geologically related to the massive temblor that hit Chile last Saturday, but its intensity was unusual for the area.
"This is the biggest quake to hit Kaohsiung in more than a century," he said.
The quake's epicenter was near the town of Jiashian, especially hard hit by last year's typhoon. A Kaohsiung County official told CTI TV news that some temporary housing built for typhoon survivors collapsed.
Military authorities said troops were sent to Jiashian to report on the extent of the damage.
In nearby Liugui, an unidentified high school student described the quake as terrifying. "Everyone was running out of the classroom. Some people fell in the rush," she told ETTV.
A spokesman for Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said authorities had been instructed to follow the quake situation closely and take steps to mitigate damage and dislocation.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan.
A magnitude 7.6 temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.
In 2006, a magnitude 6.7 quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service for millions throughout Asia.
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