18 September 2022
A strong earthquake struck southeastern Taiwan, bringing at least one building down in a small town and tearing up roads as forecasters said the threat of a regional tsunami had passed.
The quake hit at 2:44 pm (0644 GMT) about 50 kilometres north of the city of Taitung at a depth of 10 kilometres, the United States Geological Survey said.
Its initial strength was given as magnitude 7.2 but USGS later downgraded it to a 6.9-magnitude quake. Taiwan’s weather bureau recorded it as 6.8-magnitude.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami advisories shortly after the quake, but both later sent updated bulletins saying there was no longer a threat of high waves.
A 6.6-magnitude quake hit the same region on Saturday and there have been multiple tremors since, with minimal damage in what is a mountainous and sparsely populated rural region.
But Sunday’s quake was much stronger.
The China Earthquake Network Centre said tremors were felt in coastal areas including Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.
The mountainous island sits on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Most of Taiwan’s population lives on the flat western coast and in the capital Taipei.
