An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 was recorded this Wednesday, April 3, 2023, in Taiwan. The results show several deaths.
A magnitude 7.4 underwater earthquake occurred this Wednesday in Taiwan, just before 8 a.m. (local time) on the east coast of the island. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit the island in 25 years. Tsunami warnings were issued in Japan and the Philippines. On site, firefighters reported an initial provisional report of four dead and sixty injured. On the eastern coast, near the epicenter, two buildings collapsed in Hualien. Potential new victims could be found there. “Three victims died on a hiking trail, and the fourth in a road tunnel” reports Le Figaro. Images posted on social networks bear witness to the violence of the earthquake.
“The earthquake is close to the coast, and shallow. It is felt throughout Taiwan and the neighboring islands… It is the strongest in 25 years, since the 1999 earthquake” explained this morning the director from the Taipei Seismological Center. In September 1999, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed 2,400 people.
“It was definitely the biggest I’ve felt in my life and it lasted maybe 30 seconds, although it seemed to last much longer,” explains Phil Smith, a Briton living in Taipei in the columns of Figaro.
This Wednesday, April 3, 2024, Japanese and Philippine authorities canceled their tsunami alerts. “The tsunami threat has now largely passed,” says the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a regional observatory based in Hawaii. Naha airport, the largest on the Japanese island of Okinawa, suspended air traffic and flights planned to this destination were diverted. Finally, the Philippines warned of “high tsunami waves” and called for the evacuation of several coastal areas. “Residents in coastal areas of the following provinces are strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move further inland.” 23 provinces would be affected.
