Taiwan had a really big earthquake for the first time in 25 years. It happened during the morning rush hour on Wednesday. The earthquake caused a lot of damage to buildings and roads and nine people died.
During the earthquake in Taipei, old buildings lost their tiles and schools moved students to sports fields with yellow safety helmets. Some kids used textbooks to protect themselves from things that might fall on them while the aftershocks kept happening. Later, a tall building in Hualien County was left leaning at a 45-degree angle and its first floor had collapsed.
Taiwan’s fire department said nine people died in the earthquake, which happened just before 8 am. The newspaper said that three people who were hiking in Taroko National Park were killed in rockslides, and the driver of a van also died when big rocks hit the vehicle.
The agency said that 50 people in minibuses are missing because the earthquake damaged the phone networks and the authorities can’t reach them. More than 70 people are stuck, but they are thought to be okay. Some of them are in a coal mine. Another 882 people got hurt.
Taiwan’s earthquake agency said the earthquake was a 7. 2 magnitude, while the US Geological Survey said it was a 7. It hit about 18 kilometers (11. 1 miles) south-southwest of Hualien and was about 35 kilometers (21 miles) deep. Several smaller earthquakes happened after the main one, and the USGS said one of them was a 6. 5 magnitude earthquake and was 11. 8 kilometers (7 miles) deep. Smaller earthquakes usually cause more damage on the ground. The earthquake made a big wave warning, but it was cancelled later.
Officials had thought there would be a small earthquake of a magnitude 4, so they didn’t warn anyone. Yet, the earthquake was powerful enough to frighten people who are accustomed to such movement.
“Earthquakes happen a lot, and I’m used to them. ” Today was the first time a resident in Taipei, Hsien-hsuen Keng, was very scared and cried because of an earthquake. Keng lives on the fifth floor of an apartment. “The earthquake woke me up. ” I had never felt shaking so strong before.
People and rescue workers helped residents, including a small child, get out of their homes through the windows and onto the street. Everyone on the mobile was surprised but luckily no one was seriously hurt. The doors were stuck closed because of the tilt.
The old school that turned into a national building and parts of the main airport near Taipei got a little damaged.
The earthquake caused traffic to come to a stop on the east coast. Landslides and debris falling from the mountains hit the tunnels and highways, making it hard for cars to move. Train and subway services were stopped all over the island with 23 million people. In the capital city of Taipei, a new above-ground train line was also affected.
The Japan Meteorological Agency found a small tsunami of 30 centimeters (about 1 foot) on the coast of Yonaguni island about 15 minutes after the earthquake. The waves were smaller in Ishigaki and Miyako islands.
The earthquake was noticed in Shanghai and in many provinces along the southeastern coast of China, as reported by Chinese media. China and Taiwan are around 160 kilometers (100 miles) away from each other. China did not warn people in the mainland about a tsunami, and all tsunami alerts in the area were removed by Wednesday afternoon.
The island is used to earthquakes, so people quickly stopped panicking after the earthquake. They have drills at schools and get notices on their phones to prepare for earthquakes.
By lunchtime, lots of people were at the metro station in Beitou, Taipei. Some were going to work and others, mostly older people, were going to the hot springs or hiking in the mountains nearby.
Stephen Gao, a scientist who studies earthquakes at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said Taiwan is very well-prepared for earthquakes. They have strong rules for building buildings, a great system for tracking earthquakes, and they teach a lot of people how to stay safe during earthquakes.
Hualien was hit by a powerful earthquake in 2018 that caused a historic hotel and other buildings to collapse. Taiwan had a very strong earthquake in September. On September 21, 1999, a very strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7. 7 happenedIt caused 2,400 people to die, around 100,000 people got hurt, and many buildings were destroyed.
Taiwan is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” which is where a lot of earthquakes happen around the Pacific Ocean.
The earthquake caused damage to Taiwan’s economy, but the exact cost is still unknown. Taiwan makes the best computer chips and other high-tech items in the world, and these products can be easily damaged by earthquakes. Some parts of the electricity system were turned off, which might cause problems with getting goods and money lost.
TSMC, a company in Taiwan that makes computer chips, had to move its workers out of some factories in Hsinchu, which is in the southwest of Taipei. TSMC makes chips for companies like Apple. Hsinchu officials said that factories in the city’s science park have normal water and electricity supplies.
The Taiwan stock market opened as normal on Wednesday. The index went up and down, sometimes losing and sometimes gaining.