After Taiwan's Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake, 63 Aftershocks Occur... "Largest Tremor Since the 1999 Great Earthquake"

House Wall Collapses and Water Pipe Damaged
"Largest Incident in the Area in 49 Years"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Juri] On the 17th, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurred in Taitung County in eastern Taiwan, and as of 12 PM on the 18th, 63 aftershocks, including a magnitude 5.5 earthquake, have been recorded.

According to Taiwan's Liberty Times and EBC Broadcasting on the 18th, the earthquake that occurred at 9:41 PM the previous day in Guanshan Township, Taitung County, Taiwan, registered a maximum seismic intensity of level 6.

Due to the earthquake, items fell and were damaged in supermarkets in the Taitung area, and in Hualien in the east, where a maximum seismic intensity of level 5 was measured, walls of houses collapsed. In some areas of southern Kaohsiung and Tainan, power outages, water pipe damage, and partial building damage were reported, and the subway in northern Taipei and Kaohsiung was temporarily suspended.

According to local media, residents in Taitung County, where the earthquake occurred, claimed that this was the strongest shaking they have felt since the major earthquake (magnitude 7.7) on September 21, 1999.

Additionally, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau Earthquake Prediction Center explained that this earthquake is the seventh magnitude 6.0 or higher earthquake to occur this year, noting that the frequency of magnitude 6 or higher earthquakes, which usually occur 2 to 3 times annually, has increased this year.

Chen Guochang, head of the Earthquake Prediction Center at the Weather Bureau, stated that this earthquake is the largest in the area in 49 years since 1973 and added that there appears to be an "unknown structure" present.

Taiwan is located at the junction of two geological tectonic plates, making it a region where frequent large and small earthquakes occur.

Meanwhile, in 1999, a magnitude 7.6 strong earthquake in central Taiwan resulted in over 2,000 deaths, and in 2016, an earthquake in southern Taiwan caused more than 100 fatalities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.