Last night, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Taitung County, eastern Taiwan, shook the whole of Taiwan.
According to the Taiwan Free Time and EBC broadcasts, the earthquake that occurred in Guanshan Town, Taitung County, Taiwan at 9:41 last night, shook the maximum magnitude of 6 rivers.
As a result, items from a supermarket in Taitung province fell and damaged, and a wall of a house collapsed in eastern Hualien, where the maximum magnitude was measured, but fortunately no one was injured.
Power outages, damage to water pipes and parts of buildings were reported to have been damaged in parts of southern Kaohsiung and Tainan, while subways in northern Taipei and Kaohsiung were temporarily suspended.
The Taiwan Railway Authority said that both up- and down-bound trains from the northern Keelung Chidu region to southern Pingtung were delayed.
The Taiwan Atomic Energy Commission said that all of the nuclear power plants were operating normally, and the Taiwan Electric Power Corporation explained that the 3rd nuclear power plant in Hengchun, Pingtung County, is operating normally, and the power supply in Hualien and Pingtung is normal.
The Earthquake Prediction Center of the Taiwan Central Meteorological Administration added that this earthquake was the 7th earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 or greater this year, and that there were more earthquakes this year compared to two or three earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 or greater every year.
Chen Guo-chang, head of the Earthquake Prediction Center at the Meteorological Bureau, said that the earthquake was the largest in 49 years since 1973 in the area and that an unknown structure appears to exist.
He described the earthquake as a very strange earthquake, saying that there were only seven earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0, including a magnitude 5.5 earthquake in 1998.
He emphasized that this earthquake was the second largest earthquake after March 23, when a 6.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow layer.
He also observed that a magnitude 5 earthquake could occur within 2 days and a magnitude 4 earthquake within 5 days could not be ruled out.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Facebook the day before that he ordered government ministries to assess the situation and wait for an emergency.
Su Zhenchang, Chief Executive of Taiwan, also said on Facebook that he had instructed ministries to assess the status of key infrastructure and livelihood facilities.
Taiwan is at the point where two tectonic plates meet, so large and small earthquakes are frequent.
In 1999, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in central Taiwan killed more than 2,000 people, and in 2016 another earthquake in southern Taiwan killed more than 100 people.
(Photo=Taipei Central Weather Bureau capture, Yonhap News)