A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the island of Taiwan overnight Monday to Tuesday, injuring 27 people but causing no major damage, authorities said. In the capital Taipei, an AFP journalist felt his residential tower shake for nearly a minute. This earthquake, which shook buildings in Taipei, was recorded at 12:17 a.m. Tuesday in Taiwan, or 5:17 p.m. Monday in Switzerland.
Its epicenter was located 12 kilometers north of Yujing district in the south of the island, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). According to local authorities, three people, including a child, trapped under the rubble of their house, were rescued by firefighters. The ceilings of several other houses collapsed. In addition, one person was injured by falling debris and two people were rescued from elevators, authorities said. The health ministry said a total of 27 people were injured. Nanxi district firefighters said, however, that “no major damage” had been reported.
The factories of the giant TSMC evacuated
Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC announced that it had evacuated employees from some of its factories in the center and south of the country. In the town of Chiayi (southwest), video surveillance images inside a nut store, shared on the social network Threads and verified by AFP, show shelves swinging under the effect of the tremor and goods fall to the ground.
Taiwan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location at the junction of two tectonic plates near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is, according to the USGS, the most seismically active area in the world. .
-The last major earthquake occurred in April 2024, when the island was hit by a deadly tremor of magnitude 7.4, the strongest in 25 years, according to authorities. At least 17 people were killed in the earthquake, which caused landslides and seriously damaged buildings around Hualien, in the east of the island.
In 1999, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 killed some 2,400 people, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history. Taiwan has since upgraded its building code to incorporate earthquake-resistant construction methods, such as steel bars that allow a building to sway more easily when the ground moves, and implemented a alert system to warn the public.
