6.4 quake hits Taiwan

[Ah Hai]

TAIPEI: A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday morning causing buildings to sway hundreds of kilometres to the north. Local news reports said at least one person was injured.

The quake was centred in the county of Kaohsiung, and struck at a depth of about 5km. Kaohsiung is about 400km south of the capital Taipei.

Residents in Taipei could feel buildings shake, and the quake caused power outages. The island’s high-speed rail service was suspended, Taiwan’s cable news stations reported. No tsunami alert was issued.

A Kaohsiung official told the CTI news station some temporary shelter housing shelters, erected in the wake of a devastating typhoon last summer, collapsed as a result of the quake.

Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan but most are minor and cause little or no damage.

However, a 7.6-magnitude temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. In 2006 a 6.7-magnitude quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service to millions throughout Asia. -- AP

 

[halsey02]

It is coming closer......Pulau Balakang Mati is not that far away from Formosa!

 

[Ah Hai]

the world is coming to the end soon!

 

[postnew]

Damage from an early morning earthquake is seen at a local temple, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area of Kaohsiung county, Taiwan. The powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday morning, causing widespread damage, and disrupting communications around the island. (AP Photo)**

A house is damaged by a quake that hit Shanlin Township, Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.​

 

[Screwball]

你们在等死吗？那你们不是白白的活着吗？

Tak tau bacah cina lah...... tulis lingua orang puteh boleh ?

 

[halsey02]

你们在等死吗？那你们不是白白的活着吗？

We won't die...we have a very POWDERFUL god..known as P A P....they can uptuen, down trodden anything...

Na ni wei siqu???

 

[halsey02]

Tak tau bacah cina lah...... tulis lingua orang puteh boleh ?

Maaf! dia orang cina, tak mau cakap Orang putih!

ta bu wei jiang Yingyu :p

 

[postnew]

Damage from an early morning earthquake is seen in a home, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area Kaohsiung county, Taiwan.

Children are evacuated from their kindergarten classroom after a quake hit Chiayi City, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.

Director or Taiwan Seismology Department at the Central Weather Bureau, Ku Kai-wen, points to Richter scale graphs after a strong earthquake hit southern Taiwan, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan.

 

[postnew]

(TAIPEI, Taiwan) — A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, causing widespread damage and disrupting communications around the island. Local news reports said several people were injured.
The quake was centered in the county of Kaohsiung, and struck at a depth of about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). Kaohsiung is about 249 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Taipei.

No tsunami alert was issued.

Kuo Kai-wen, director of the Central Weather Bureau's Seismology Center, said the Taiwan quake was not geologically related to the temblor that hit Chile over the weekend, killing more than 800 people.
In the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, a fire broke out in a textile factory shortly after Thursday's quake struck, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air. At least one train in southern Taiwan shifted slightly off its tracks, and authorities suspended service throughout the region. Subway service in the city of Kaohsiung was temporarily disrupted.

Despite some damage and isolated fires, the quake caused no fatalities officials said [AFP]

Power outages hit Taipei and at least one county to the south, and telephone service in some parts of Taiwan was spotty.
Buildings swayed in the capital when the quake struck.
The quake's epicenter was near the town of Jiashian, in the same area where a devastating typhoon struck last August. A Kaohsiung county official told CTI TV news that some temporary housing in the town collapsed as a result of the quake.

IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2009 - A rescuer carries kids as residents of the landslide-affected village of Namashia are evacuated by military helicopter following Typhoon Morakot in Kaohsiung county, southern Taiwan August 14, 2009.


The Ministry of Defense said troops were dispatched to Jiashian to report on damage.
CTI reported one person was moderately injured by falling debris in Kaohsiung, and one woman was hospitalized after a wall collapsed on her scooter in the southern city of Chiayi. Also in Chiayi, one person was hurt by a falling tree, government-owned Central News Agency said.

Shaking

The quake's epicentre was near the town of Jiashian, in the same area where the devastating typhoon Morakot struck last August.
A Kaohsiung county official told local television that some temporary housing in the town collapsed as a result of the quake.
Troops were sent to the area to check on the extent of damage and casualties, and local reports suggested several people were injured by falling objects.
"It felt like the buildings were going to collapse," Chen Pei-chi, a teacher in Shiaolin Elementary School in a village close to the epicentre told AFP news agency.
"I tried to get out, but my legs failed me because I was so frightened. Many children were screaming while they were running out of the classrooms."

A spokesman for Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said authorities had been instructed to follow the quake situation closely and take steps to mitigate damage and dislocation.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan but most are minor and cause little or no damage.
However, a 7.6-magnitude temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. In 2006 a 6.7-magnitude quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service to millions throughout Asia.

 

[RonRon]

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[Watchman]

WTF this homeless tosser is shivering in the cold making such comments !

 

[postnew]

Firemen battle a blaze at a textile factory that started shortly after a strong earthquake jolted the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area of Tainan, Taiwan.

Evacuated students sit outside in their playground protecting their heads after a strong earthquake shook the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area Chaiyi county, Taiwan.​

 

[Rakyat]

CNN Earthquake Hits Taiwan 2010.03.04 台灣甲仙地震即時報導 Breaking News
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[postnew]

Firemen try to put out a blaze at a textile factory that started shortly after a quake hit Tainan, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.

Firemen try to put out a blaze at a textile factory that started shortly after a quake hit Tainan, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.

A man walks inside a temple damaged by a quake that hit Shanlin Township, Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.

A woman recovers a wall clock from the damage caused by a strong earthquake that jolted the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area of Kaohsiung county, Taiwan.​

 

[Watchman]

Aftershocks ripple through Taiwan
March 4, 2010 2:51 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Quake followed by more than 15 aftershocks, the largest reaching 4.8
6.4 quake rocks southern Taiwan at about 0120 GMT; no immediate reports of deaths
Quake hits northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast
Residents in southern Taiwan report blackouts; train services disrupted

(CNN) -- Aftershocks rattled southern Taiwan in the hours after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook the island, but left it relatively unscathed.

Thursday morning's quake was followed by more than 15 aftershocks, the largest reaching 4.8.

Taiwan's interior ministry reported 12 minor injuries -- nine in Kaohsiung county, two in Jia Yi county and one in Tainan county.

The quake struck about 8:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. Wednesday ET) in a mountainous region about 25 miles northwest of Taitung, on the southeast coast, and 40 miles east of Tainan and Kaohsiung on the southwest coast.
Video: Quake rattles Taiwan
RELATED TOPICS
Taiwan
U.S. Geological Survey
Earthquakes

The region includes Taiwan's Maolin National Scenic Area and is still recovering from a direct hit by Typhoon Morakot that killed hundreds in August. The typhoon dumped more than two feet of rain, causing serious mudslides in the south, including one that buried the village of Shiao Lin under 50 feet of m&d.

Shuo Hong, an orthopedic surgeon in Taipei, about 155 miles away from the epicenter, felt the earthquake during a meeting at a hospital. "We were debating whether or not to run for shelter, but the hospital is safe," he said "It is built to resist a 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

"It was shaking for about 20 to 30 seconds, shaking more than what we expected," Hong said.

Were you there? Did you feel it?

The Taiwan Ministry of Interior and the National Fire Agency said electricity was cut off in parts of Kaohsiung county, Jia Yi city and Jia Yi county. Taiwan's official news agency reported that a fire broke out in Jia Yi city.

Residents in southern Taiwan reported cracks in some buildings and major bridges. Train service was also disrupted in some areas, Taiwanese media reported.

Two small hotels near the epicenter that were contacted by CNN reported no damage, though the buildings shook for a few seconds during the quake.

Albert Yu, communications manager of the humanitarian organization World Vision, told CNN he was about half-way through a 90-minute trip via high-speed train from Taipei to Tainan when the quake struck. Passengers did not feel the quake, he said, but operators stopped the train and announced what had happened before inspecting the tracks for stability.

During the delay, Yu said people were calm, "opening laptops ... and chatting with people around them."

Yu said World Vision "has already been on high alert responding to the quakes in Haiti and Chile, so we're closely monitoring reports in the earthquake in southern Taiwan."

Residents in Taipei, the capital, also felt the shaking.

Earthquakes are far from uncommon on the nearly 14,000-square-mile island -- about the size of the U.S. states of Maryland and Delaware combined -- which sits across the juncture of the Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates.

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the same general region in December. The island took a double hit on December 26, 2006, when earthquakes of 7.1 and 6.9 magnitude hit eight minutes apart.

The largest recorded quake to strike Taiwan was an 8.0-magnitude quake in 1920, but the worst earthquake disaster stemmed from a 7.1-magnitude quake in 1935 that killed more than 3,200 people -- followed by a 6.5-magnitude quake that killed more than 2,700 people three months later.

More recently, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,400 people in 1999.

 

[mayliewwan]

Evacuated students sit.... Sit??? You sure it is not squat???

Firemen battle a blaze at a textile factory that started shortly after a strong earthquake jolted the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area of Tainan, Taiwan.

Evacuated students sit outside in their playground protecting their heads after a strong earthquake shook the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in the southern area Chaiyi county, Taiwan.​

 

[postnew]

A local Taiwanese resident inspects the damage to his home after a strong earthquake jolted the island, Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Kaohsiung county, southern Taiwan.

A man looks at broken statues inside a temple damaged by a quake that hit Shanlin Township, Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan, March 4, 2010.​

 

[sinren67]

2012 comes early

 

[Alamaking]

No wonder internet damn slow today......

 

[postnew]

Taiwan says Thursday's quake unrelated to quakes in Haiti or Chile
05 Mar 2010

Taipei - Taiwan said Friday that Thursday's magnitude-6.4 earthquake, which injured nearly 100 people, is unrelated to the quakes in Haiti and Chile. "So far, we have not found out which fault triggered the quake, but there is no evidence it is related to the quakes that hit Haiti and Chile," said Tsai Chun-hsiuang, deputy director of the Seismological Centre.

The quake hit Kaohsiung County, causing widespread damage because its epicentre was only 5 kilometres underground.

The quakes caused many houses to crack or crumble, triggered fires in several factories and caused a high-speed train to derail although the passengers were not injured.

A total of 559 schools was damaged with two needing to be rebuilt, Education Minister Wu Ching-chi said.

Thursday's quake caused panic because most of the quakes that affect Taiwan occur off the island's east coast and strong quakes rarely strike central, southern or western Taiwan.

Since the quake hit Kaohsiung County, the Seismological Centre has recorded 277 aftershocks with the biggest measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale.

"But the power of the tremors is easing," said Tsai, the centre's deputy director.

An Indonesian maid in Chiayi City was so frightened by Thursday's quake that she chopped off her left hand with a kitchen knife, the cable television channel TVBS reported.

She underwent a 10-hour surgery to reattach her hand.