In Taipei, Taiwan, a strong earthquake shook the whole island early Wednesday. This resulted in buildings collapsing in a city in the south and generated a tsunami that reached southern Japanese islands.
A building with five floors in the lightly populated Hualien suffered heavy damage, with its first floor collapsing and the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and some newer office complexes.
Train and subway services were suspended across the 23 million people island of Taiwan. However, things quickly went back to normal in the capital, as children went to school and the morning commute seemed regular.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that a 30-centimeter (about 1 foot) tsunami wave was observed on the coast of Yonaguni island approximately 15 minutes after the earthquake. The agency suggested that waves may also have hit the coasts of Miyako and Yaeyama islands. Japan’s Self Defense Force dispatched aircraft to gather information about the tsunami's impact around the Okinawa region and prepared shelters for evacuees if needed.
Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency measured the magnitude as 7.2, while the U.S. Geological Survey recorded it as 7.4. It occurred at 7:58 a.m., about 18 kilometers south-southwest of Hualien and was around 35 kilometers (21 miles) deep.
Wu Chien-fu, the head of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring bureau, noted that effects were observed as far away as Kinmen, a Taiwanese-controlled island off the coast of China. Multiple aftershocks were felt in Taipei in the hour following the initial quake.
The USGS stated that one of the subsequent quakes had a magnitude of 6.5 and was 11.8 kilometers (7 miles) deep.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center confirmed that there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
The earthquake is believed to be the most significant in Taiwan since a powerful temblor in 1999 caused extensive damage. Taiwan is located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
