TAIPEI: More than 80 earthquakes, the strongest of 6.3 magnitude, struck Taiwan’s east coast starting Monday (Apr 22) night and into the early hours of Tuesday. Some caused shaking of buildings in the capital Taipei, the island’s weather administration said.
The earthquakes were centered on the largely rural eastern county of Hualien, where on April 3 at least 17 people died after a 7.2 magnitude temblor. Singaporean couple Sim Hwee Kok and Neo Siew Choo are the only people still unaccounted for. They are believed to have gone missing along the Shakadang Trail.
Taiwan has been jolted by hundreds of aftershocks since then.
The fire department in Hualien said early on Tuesday that a hotel which had already been damaged on April 3 and was no longer in operation was now slightly leaning on its side.
However, there were no reports of any casualties.
The first strong earthquake – a magnitude 5.5 – hit on Monday at around 5.08pm, according to the Central Weather Administration. It could be felt in the capital Taipei.
That was followed by a series of aftershocks and quakes, with two intense tremors hitting one after another around 2.30am Tuesday, according to AFP reporters and witnesses in Taipei.
“I was washing my hands, and suddenly felt what I thought was vertigo,” Olivier Bonifacio, a tourist staying in Taipei’s Da’an district, told AFP.
“I stepped into my room and noticed the building was rocking and I heard the desk creak,” he said, adding that it was then he realized it was another aftershock.
The Central Weather Administration said a magnitude-6.0 quake had hit at 2.26 am, followed six minutes later by the magnitude-6.3 tremor.
The US Geological Survey put the first one at a magnitude-6.1, followed by a magnitude-6.0.
Dozens more smaller tremors were recorded by the Central Weather Administration over the rest of the night, with a new one every few minutes, according to its website – all in the Hualien region.
Through Monday, AFP reporters could feel their buildings swaying during intense quakes, while one said “glass panels of bathrooms and windows were making noises” as the island shuddered.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.
More than 100 people were killed in an earthquake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.
