- The Washington Times - Wednesday, April 3, 2024

SEOUL, South Korea — Nine people are dead and more than 1,000 reported injured in Taiwan after the island nation was rocked by the strongest earthquake in a quarter-century Wednesday.

The quake was so powerful that it was also felt in Shanghai and other Chinese coastal cities more than 100 miles away.  However, tsunami warnings issued by Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan were lifted after the feared destructive waves did not materialize.

Early reports suggest the damage and death tolls were far below those caused by a calamitous quake in 1999, in which some 2,400 people died and thousands of buildings collapsed. According to multiple media reports, this morning’s quake, variously reported to have a magnitude of 7.2, 7.4 and 7.7, hit at 7:28 a.m. local time, followed by dozens of aftershocks.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration told reporters that aftershocks from the quake, some as powerful as 7.0 magnitude, could occur over the next three to four days. There were also reports authorities were looking into reports that some Taiwanese residents said they never received the official nationwide alert about the earthquake’s danger. 

Smartphone footage of the quake posted online from across the island shows huge dust clouds billowing up as landslides swallow up roads and collapse cliffs into the sea. Waves of water can be seen rocking out of rooftop swimming pools, and vehicles in the morning rush hour slowing down as inner-city elevated highways shake and swing.

Commentators speaking to international news outlets over video links from Taiwan could be seen shaking from the aftershocks even as they continued to broadcast.

The quake’s epicenter was southeast of the city of Hualien, which lies on the island’s Pacific-facing east coast. At least 26 buildings have collapsed and over 80,000 homes were without power. The quake and aftershocks also caused 24 landslides and damage to roads, bridges and tunnels. Taiwan’s national legislature building and sections of the main airport in Taoyuan, just south of Taipei, also suffered minor damage, authorities said.

Taiwan’s mountainous interior, complete with dramatic curving roads, is a popular tourist lure, and the dead reportedly include two hikers and a jeep driver crushed by falling rocks in the scenic Taroko Gorge National Park.

Between 50 and 60 persons are trapped in a tunnel blocked by rock falls in the area, Taiwanese media accounts report. Survivors in the tunnel have made smartphone contact with emergency authorities, whose travel to the site has been hampered by roads blocked by landslides.

Some 70 workers who were stranded at two rock quarries were safe, Taiwan’s national fire agency told The Associated Press, but the roads to reach them had been damaged by falling rocks. Six workers were going to be airlifted on Thursday.

Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing. Roads to Hualien are partly closed off and blocked by rockfalls, local media reported.

Ships are being mobilized to bring supplies into the city, though the city’s airport is undamaged. It is hoped that rail lines will be at least partially opened on Wednesday, the media stated.

Hualien was last struck by a deadly quake six years ago that killed 17 people and leveled a historic hotel site. Rescuers were reportedly out in force in the provincial city Wednesday, looking for residents who may be trapped and using excavators to stabilize damaged buildings.

Like nearby Japan, Taiwan, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” over two major tectonic plates, is frequently shaken by earthquakes, so has strict earthquake building codes that protect modern buildings against tremors.

Taiwan also benefits from a well-developed crisis management system. A disaster-response center has been set up in Hualien, and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has ordered the deployment of troops to assist in search, rescue and recovery operations.

There were already signs that much of the island was returning to normal as the rescue operations proceeded elsewhere. Subways were operating normally by noon in parts of the capital of Taipei, and the Taiwan stock exchange opened on time and showed no signs of panic selling.

So far, the damage and death tolls appear to be far below those caused by a calamitous quake in 1999, in which some 2,400 people died.

Still, the earthquake that shook Taiwan Wednesday could also have repercussions for the global economy. Preliminary reports from the island’s semiconductor manufacturers are that though fabrication plants were temporarily evacuated, the staff were able to return to work after the tremors had subsided.

The island’s key chipmaking hub, occupied by such global market leaders as TSMC, United Microelectronics and MediTek, is in the science district of the city of Hsinchu, which is approximately 60 miles northwest of Hualien, and so outside the most destructive range of the earthquake.

The Bloomberg business news agency, however, warned that the disaster may still cause glitches in the global chip supply chain: The highly advanced non-memory chips in which Taiwanese manufacturers lead the world – supplying up to 90% of the components that enable such critical technologies as cellphones and AI — require highly stable processes over several weeks.

It is unclear if that stability has been threatened, Bloomberg reported. It is also not clear what damage the fabrication plans, known as “fabs,” may have suffered.

Chipmaker TSMC, whose semiconductor customers include Apple and other American tech giants, said it evacuated employees from some of its factories in Hsinchu, southwest of Taipei, but water and electricity supplies for the city’s science campus were reportedly functioning as normal by late Wednesday.

• This story is based in part on wire service reports.

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

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