Two killed and at least 42 injured as quakes rock Taiwan
By Xue Ling,WNS Taiwan Correspondent
TAIPEI - Taiwan on Wednesday assessed the damage after a strong earthquake measuring 7.1 rocked the country, killing two people and wounding at least 42. Hundreds of rescuers were dispatched to the worst-hit Pingtung area in southern Taiwan where at least three houses were reported to have collapsed and other buildings also suffered damage. The tremor triggered a series of aftershocks with the latest being reported at 10:30 am (0230 GMT) Wednesday with a magnitude of 5.9, the central weather bureau said.
One victim was a mother who died apparently trying to protect her twin sons. Fang Shu-chuan, 36, was shielding the seven-year-old twins with her body when the three-storey furniture shop where they lived collapsed. One of the boys was seriously hurt and the other suffered minor injuries. Fang's 34-year-old brother also died in the disaster. At least other 42 people suffered injures in the quake and aftershocks. People in Pingtung rushed into the streets in panic during the tremors which triggered power blackouts in over 3,000 households.
The central weather bureau said Tuesday's quake was the most powerful in a century in the Pingtung region. High-rise buildings all over Taiwan rattled and telephone services in southern parts of the island were disrupted. An elementary school in the mountain region was closed due to falling rocks. Road and rail traffic was also affected by the blackouts. The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, currently on trial, halted one south-bound "bullet train" to Kaohsiung but its services in northern Taiwan were unaffected, a company spokesman said. Internet connections across the Asia-Pacific region were affected due to damage caused by the earthquake to undersea data cables. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck 10 kilometres (six miles) under the sea, 57 miles from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The Taiwan central weather bureau reported one strong quake and a series of smaller ones. It said the stronger tremor struck at 8:26 pm (1226 GMT), with its epicentre 23 kilometres southwest of Hengchun in Pingtung county in the southernmost tip of Taiwan. It originated 22 kilometres under the sea.
The second and third quakes hit Pingtung about eight minutes and 14 minutes later, with magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.2 respectively. A fourth occurred in the same area at 23:41 pm with a magnitude of 5.5. Another hit almost two hours later at 01:35 am, the US Geological Survey reported, with a 5.4 magnitude, about 95 kilometres from Kaohsiung and just six kilometres under the water. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned on Tuesday that the earthquake could have triggered a one-meter high tsunami heading towards the Philippines, but no tsunami was reported. Taiwan, which lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly shaken by earthquakes.
posted by wnsworld @ 11:52 PM
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