THE strongest 7.2 magnitude earthquake in a quarter-century rocked Taiwan during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing nine people, injuring 1,011, stranding dozens of workers at quarries and sending some residents scrambling out the windows of damaged buildings. The quake, which also injured more than 1,000, was centred off the coast of rural, mountainous Hualien County, where some buildings leaned at severe angles, their ground floors crushed. Just over 150 kilometres away in the capital of Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings, and schools evacuated their students to sports fields, equipping them with yellow safety helmets. Some children covered themselves with textbooks to guard against falling objects as aftershocks continued. Rescuers fanned out in Hualien, looking for people who may be trapped and using excavators to stabilise damaged buildings. The numbers of people missing, trapped or stranded fluctuated frequently as authorities learned of more in trouble and worked to locate or free them. Some 70 workers who were stranded at two rock quarries were safe, according to the fire agency, but the roads to reach them had been damaged by falling rocks. Six workers were going to be airlifted on Thursday. In the early hours afterthe quake, neighboursandrescueworkerscould be seen on TV lifting residents, includingatoddler, through windowsandontothe street,afterdoors fused shut in the shaking. Taiwanisregularlyjoltedbyquakes anditspopulationis among thebest prepared for them, but authorities said they had expected a relatively mildearthquakeandaccordinglydid not send out alerts. The eventual temblor was strong enough to scare even people who are used to such shaking. “I’ve grown accustomed to (earthquakes).Buttodaywasthefirst timeIwasscaredtotearsbyanearthquake,” said Hsien-hsuen Keng, a resident who lives in a fifth-floor apartmentinTaipei.“Iwasawakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense shaking before.” At least nine people died in the quake, which struck just before 8 a.m., according to Taiwan’s nationalfire agency. The localUnitedDaily News reported that three were hikers killed in rockslides in Taroko National Park, which is in Hualien, andthatavandriverdiedinthesame area when boulders hit the vehicle. A tsunami warning was triggered but later lifted. Another 1,011 peoplewereinjured.

 

Authoritiesalsoinitially lost contact with 50 hotel employees in minibuses in the nationalparkafterthequakedowned phone networks. Three of the employees managed to walk to the hotel, while the others remained stranded.Thequakeandaftershocks also caused 24 landslides and damage to roads, bridges and tunnels. The national legislature, a converted school built before World War II, and sections of the main airport in Taoyuan, just south of Taipei, also saw minor damage. HualienMayorHsuChen-weisaid 48 residential buildings were damagedinthe city, whichsharesa name with the county. Hsu said water and electricity supplies were in the process of being restored. Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency said the quake was 7.2 magnitude while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4. It struck about 18 kilometres off of Hualien, on Taiwan’s east coast, and was about 35 kilometres deep. Multiple aftershocks followed. Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill after the earthquake, with landslides and falling debrishitting tunnels andhighways. Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, with some tracks twisted by the stress of the quake, as was subway service in Taipei, where sections of a newly constructed elevated line split apart but did not collapse.

 

The initial panic after the earthquake quickly faded on the island, which prepares for such events with drills at schools and notices issued via publicmedia andmobile phone. StephenGao,aseismologistandprofessor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said Taiwan’sreadinessisamongthemost advanced in the world, also featuringstrictbuildingcodesandaworldclass seismological network. By noon, the metro station in the busy northern Taipei suburb of Beitou was again buzzing with people commuting to jobs and people arrivingtovisitthehotspringsortravel the mountain paths at the base of an extinct volcano. The earthquake was felt in Shanghaiandseveralprovincesalong China’ssouth-easterncoast,according to Chinese media. China and Taiwan are about 160 kilometres apart. The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami of 30 centimetres was detected on the coast ofYonaguniislandabout15minutes afterthequakestruck.Smallerwaves were measured in Ishigaki and Miyakoislands.Allalertsintheregion had been lifted byWednesday afternoon.

 

Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakesoccur.Hualienwaslaststruck by a deadly quake in 2018 that killed 17 people and brought down a historic hotel. Taiwan’s worst quake in recent years struck on September 21, 1999, with a magnitude of 7.7, causing2,400deaths,injuringaround 100,000anddestroyingthousandsof buildings.Theeconomicfalloutfrom the quake has yet to be calculated, but Taiwan is the leading manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticatedcomputerchipsandotherhightechnologyitemsthatarehighlysensitive to seismic events. Parts of the electricity gridwere shutdown,possiblyleadingtodisruptionsinthesupply chain and financial losses.

 

PM MODI EXPRESSES SOLIDARITYWITH PEOPLEOFEARTHQUAKE-HIT TAIWAN: PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesdayexpressedanguishatthe loss of lives in an earthquake in Taiwan, conveying India’s solidarity with the “resilient” people of the country.He said on X, “Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to earthquakes in Taiwan today. Our heartfeltcondolencestothebereaved families and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured. We stand in solidarity with the resilient people of Taiwan as they endure the aftermath and recover from it.” TAIWAN PRESIDENT CONVEYS GRATITUDETO PM MODI: Shortly afterPrimeMinisterModi conveyed solidarity with the people of quakehit Taiwan, its President Tsai Ingwen on Wednesday expressed deep gratitude to him for the support at the “challenging time”, saying it meansa“greatdeal”totheTaiwanese people. Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te also thanked Modi saying hissupportandsolidarityareasource of strength to the people of Taiwan during these trying times. “We are deeply grateful for your kind words andsupport,@narendramodi,atthis challenging time. Your solidarity means a great deal to the people of Taiwan,” he said.