Eastern Taiwan suffered an earthquake, followed by 70 aftershocks 

Hualien’s Zhuoxi Township was the epicentre of a magnitude 5.9 aftershock that hit at 10:07 a.m. on Monday. The epicentre of the aftershock occurred at a depth of 13.4 kilometres.

Chishang Township in Taitung had a magnitude 6.8 earthquake at 2:44 p.m. on Sunday; it was 7 kilometres deep and stronger than the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit Guanshan Township in the same county on Saturday.

On Taiwan’s 7-level intensity scale, which measures the true impact of a seismic event, the earthquake registered as a 6+. The CWB information suggests that the earthquake happened in the area bordering Chishang and Yuli Township in neighbouring Hualien County.

Seismological Center data shows that as of Monday morning, there had been more than 70 aftershocks measuring magnitude 3 or above, with the biggest measuring magnitude 5.9.

The CWB reports that the 5.9 magnitude aftershock occurred at 10:07 AM on Monday, with its epicentre in the Zhuoxi Township in Hualien. It was 13.4 kilometres down when the aftershock was felt.

The 19th of September, in Taipei  more than seventy aftershocks had been detected by Monday morning after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Taitung County in southeastern on Sunday, according to the Central Weather Bureau’s (CWB’s) Seismological Center. It was estimated that a magnitude 5.9 shock was among these aftershocks, and more are expected in the coming days.

Chen Kuo-chang , head of the Seismological Center, has stated that further earthquakes of magnitude 5 or higher are possible over the next three days.

Aftershocks of magnitude 4 or higher are likely to occur within the next week, according to Chen, who also emphasised that these aftershocks may occur over a longer period of time, although with smaller magnitudes.

After Saturday’s 6.4-magnitude earthquake, Chen said he initially thought aftershocks might last for almost a month. However, the aftershocks were not as intense as feared, leading him to predict that their frequency would eventually decrease.

After Saturday’s 6.4 magnitude earthquake, for example, aftershocks occurred about every ten minutes at first, before slowing down significantly. Chen said this trend is expected to continue over the next five to seven days. Wulu, Lidao, Xinwu, and Haiduan Villages, as well as Haiduan Township, were all told by Taitung to close their businesses and schools at 12 p.m. on Monday.

Although Changbin Township in Taitung has closed its schools for the day, businesses there will open as usual, as of press time.

In the wake of the derailment, the TRA reported that all 20 passengers were safely removed.

Services between Hualien and Taitung were temporarily halted at 6 p.m. on Sunday owing to track damage, as announced by the TRA.

Communities in Taipei, New Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung also reported outages, joining the 7,073 homes in Hualien’s Yuli Township that lost power after the quake.

Many individuals were hurt when the ceiling of an indoor badminton court in Taoyuan collapsed as a result of the earthquake.

As of 8 p.m. on Sunday, the Ministry of Education announced that 72 schools across Taiwan had been damaged by the earthquakes. The preliminary amount of losses recorded was NT$4.61 million (US$147,310).

The local administration in Hualien’s Yuli, Fuli, and Zhuoxi Townships closed all schools on Monday due to the earthquake’s effects.

All Taitung County institutions (in Guanshan, Luye, Chihshang, Haiduan, and Yanping) will be closed on Monday.

According to the Hualien County Disaster Response Center, the Gaoliao and Luntien bridges in Hualien both collapsed and shattered into multiple portions, and the county’s Yuli Bridge was also damaged.

The hub also reported that three people had been pulled from the collapsed Gaoliao Bridge and were being treated in a hospital.

Thursday, September 18th, Taipei (CNA) After a series of earthquakes shook Taiwan on Sunday, several buildings and transportation systems were damaged or destroyed, and one cement worker was killed and 79 others were hurt as of 7 p.m.