A powerful earthquake struck off southwestern Taiwan yesterday,
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, the reports
said.
Many streets in the city were cracked and a major bridge was
damaged, the reports said.
The US Geological Survey said the quake, which hit at 8:26 PM,
registered a magnitude of 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.
Japan's Meteorological Bureau said a 1-meter-high tsunami might
be headed towards the eastern coast of the Philippines, but later
lifted the warning.
"The expected waves did not materialize... the danger has
passed," said Hiroshi Koide of the agency's earthquake section. "We
predicted a tsunami based on the depth and magnitude of the
earthquake. But ultimately, it appears no large tsunami was
triggered."
Philippine police said coastal areas had been alerted.
The warning underscored the higher level of caution about
tsunami waves in the region since a massive earthquake off
Indonesia exactly two years earlier triggered a powerful tsunami in
the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people in a dozen
countries.
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.
Liao Ching-ling, a manager at Kaohsiung's Ambassador Hotel, said
the quake was the strongest she had ever felt. "The building swayed
so badly that many guests panicked and ran out of their rooms and
into the streets," she 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 kilometers south of Taipei.
Quakes frequently shake the island of Taiwan, which is part of
the Pacific's "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines
encircling the Pacific Basin. Most are minor and cause little or no
damage.
However, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan in
September 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.
(China Daily December 27, 2006)