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After the quake: rockfall near the city of Taichung
Photo:
Taichung City Government's Fire / AFP
At least nine people have died in Taiwan in the region's strongest earthquake in a quarter of a century. According to authorities, 963 others suffered injuries as a result of the tremors. Dozens of workers are also stuck in quarries.
According to the authorities, 143 people were considered trapped. This included miners who were stuck in two quarries - the AP news agency spoke of 70 people, the dpa of 71 people. The quarries are owned by two Taiwanese cement companies. The AP said the workers were safe, but could not be reached at the moment due to falling rocks on the roads. Six of them are to be rescued from the air on Thursday. There were also people trapped in their cars in tunnels and hikers in mountain caves.
Shortly before 8 a.m. the earthquake shook the entire island. It had a magnitude of 7.2, according to Taiwanese data, and was the strongest in almost 25 years. Its epicenter was just a few kilometers from Hualien. The US earthquake monitoring station registered a magnitude of 7.4. In Japan the magnitude was even measured at 7.7. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded around Hualien alone, even eight hours after the quake.
Two Germans were temporarily trapped in a tunnel. According to authorities in the evening, they have now been freed from the tunnel. Details were not disclosed. The Foreign Office in Berlin said it was still in contact with a tour group of 18 Germans who were originally considered missing, a spokesman said. The people are doing well given the circumstances.
Production at several locations of the world's largest computer chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, was also briefly interrupted. Other companies also temporarily stopped work. The state-owned energy supplier reported that more than 308,000 households in Taiwan lost power due to the quake. Tens of thousands were still temporarily without power afterwards. The quake also triggered tsunami warnings in Taiwan as well as parts of southern Japan and the Philippines, but these were lifted after a few hours.
Earthquakes often occur in Taiwan because two tectonic plates collide near the island. Strict building regulations therefore apply, which apparently prevented a significantly higher number of victims from the earthquake. In 1999, around 2,400 people died in the deadliest earthquake in Taiwan's history.
sol/dpa/AFP/AP