Off southwestern Taiwan yesterday a powerful earthquake struck
triggering a tsunami warning on the second anniversary of the waves
that killed more than 200,000 in southern Asia.
Two hours later, seismologists lifted the warning, saying the
threat of destructive waves had passed.
Taiwan media reported one person was killed and three injured in
the southern city of Pingtung when their four-storey home
collapsed. Four other members of the family were trapped in the
rubble but firefighters eventually freed them and many streets in
the city were cracked and a major bridge was damaged, reports
said.
The US Geological Survey said the quake, which hit at 8:26 PM
registered 7.1, while Taiwan's central weather bureau measured it
at 6.7. It was followed eight minutes later by an aftershock
registering 7.0, the USGS said.
Yesterday's quake was felt throughout Taiwan Province. It swayed
buildings and knocked objects off the shelves in the capital,
Taipei, in the northern part of the island.
Phone lines were cut in the southern cities of Kaohsiung and
Pingtung, possibly hindering reports of damage by residents the CTI
Cable News reported. Several high-rise hotels swayed violently in
Kaohsiung, it said.
The tremor was centered at sea about 23 kilometers southwest of
Hengchun on the southern tip of Taiwan, the bureau said. Hengchun
is about 450 kilometres south of Taipei.
Quakes frequently shake the island of Taiwan, which is part of
the Pacific's ‘Ring of Fire,’ which is an arc of volcanoes and
fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Most are minor and cause
little or no damage.
On Wednesday Chinese mainland official also conveyed condolences
to victims in the earthquakes occurred late Tuesday in the coastal
areas near Pingtung County in southern Taiwan.
Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council conveyed condolences to the earthquake victims in Taiwan
and expressed solicitude to families and relatives of the victims
at a regular press conference.
Meanwhile, the mainland-based Association for Relations Across
the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) on Wednesday wrote a letter to the
Taiwan-based Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), expressing
solicitude to Taiwanese who suffer severe earthquake disaster.
The letter says: "we are distressed to learn that earthquakes
occurred from late Tuesday to early Wednesday in the coastal water
near Pingtung County, southern Taiwan, have killed two, injured
dozens and caused severe economic losses."
"Mainland is greatly concerned about Taiwan's earthquake
disaster situation and entrusts ARATS to convey condolences to the
victims and deep sympathy to their families and all the people
affected. We sincerely hope that people in earthquake-hit areas
could overcome the disaster and restore normal life as early as
possible," the letter reads.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily December 27,
2006)