The strongest earthquake in 25 years rocked Taiwan on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, the Taiwanese Central Weather Administration’s (CWA) Seismology Center Earthquake Report No. 019 reported as of 7:58 a.m.
Reportedly, 9 people died while hundreds were injured and many remained trapped, and several infrastructures were damaged, primarily, such as buildings and roads.
The epicenter of the earthquake has a local magnitude of 7.2 and is 25 kilometers south-southeast of Hualien County Hall with a depth of 15.5 kilometers, the report stated. However, the US Geological Survey reported that the earthquake on the eastern coast of Taiwan had a magnitude of 7.4 with a depth of 34.8 kilometers.
It is the strongest earthquake, so far in 25 years, causing damage to buildings and prompting to raise tsunami warnings for islands in southern Japan and the Philippines.
Kuo Kai-wen, former director of the CWA Seismology Center, characterized the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday as “having an energy equivalent to around 32 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, while the 921 Jiji earthquake had the energy of 46 Hiroshima atomic bombs,” Focus Taiwan reported.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami warning at 8:17 a.m. that “strongly advised” people in the coastal areas of Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, and Isabela to evacuate immediately to higher grounds. But later on at 10:33 a.m., it issued a cancellation of tsunami warning for all coastal areas that were previously advised. It said, “Based on available data of our sea level monitoring stations facing the epicentral area, no significant sea level disturbances have been recorded since 7:58 a.m. up until this cancellation.”
Since 2011, Regel Javines has been writing online, sharing news and analysis on a range of noteworthy and urgent social issues. He completed his bachelor’s degree in office administration at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP)—Taguig Campus, where he also served as editor-in-chief of the official school newspaper. See Regel’s published articles here.