7.4 magnitude earthquake shakes Taiwan and triggers tsunami warning in Japan

TAIPEI – A fort earthquake of magnitude above 7 was felt in Taiwan this Tuesday, 2nd, (Wednesday, 3rd, in the morning local time), shaking the entire island and causing buildings to collapse. O Japan issued an alert tsunami for a group of southern islands. There are no reports of victims so far.

According to the US Geological Survey, the tremor was magnitude 7.4. and occurred in Hualien, on the east coast of Taiwan. Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Administration also recorded a magnitude 6.4 aftershock. According to Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Administration, this was the strongest earthquake to hit the island in 25 years.

The epicenter was about 16 kilometers below the Earth’s surface, according to Taiwan. The tremors could be felt for more than a minute in the capital, Taipei, where news reports showed images of buildings shaking.

The Japan Meteorological Agency predicted a tsunami of up to 3 meters following the earthquake at 7:58 a.m. local time.

Just after 9am in Japan (9pm Brasília), the first waves measuring more than 30 centimeters began to arrive on the island of Yonaguni, according to broadcaster NHK. The biggest waves are expected to arrive after 10am local time (10pm Brasília time).

Residents of the islands of Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama in southern Japan have been advised to stay as far away from coastal areas as possible.

The island of Taiwan is located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which causes enormous seismic and volcanic activity in the Pacific Ocean, reaching from Indonesia to Chile.

Taiwan is regularly shaken by earthquakes. In 2018, a 6.2 magnitude tremor killed 17 people and injured more than 300 in Hualien. In 1999, the largest earthquake in recent history killed 2,400 people.

Hualien County is home to around 300,000 people and is close to the Taroko Gorge, a popular tourist destination.

A five-story building in sparsely populated Hualien appeared in images heavily damaged, with the first floor collapsed while the rest was tilted at a 45-degree angle. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and some newer office complexes.

Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, as was subway service in Taipei. But things quickly returned to normal in the capital, with children heading to school and the morning commute feeling normal.

Power outages and internet outages were reported in parts of Taiwan following the earthquake, according to NetBlocks, a watchdog organization that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.

The head of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring department, Wu Chien-fu, said the effects had been detected as far away as Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled island off the coast of China. Several aftershocks were felt in Taipei within an hour of the initial earthquake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there were no risks in Hawaii or the US Pacific territory of Guam.

Philippine authorities advised people living in the coastal areas of 23 provinces to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move inland. The first tsunami waves will arrive in the next few hours, authorities said, warning that they “may not be the biggest” and could continue for hours./AP and NYT