6.1 magnitude strikes Taiwan, 17 injured

Friday, April 19, 2019

An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude struck Taiwan Thursday afternoon, rekindling memories of a deadly tremor that hit the island a year ago.

The temblor hit at 1:01 p.m. and was centred off the coast of Hualien, on Taiwan’s east coast, according to the United States Geological Service. Powerful tremors were felt in the capital, Taipei, 75 miles to the north. Television footage showed a landslide on the east coast.

According to authorities, 17 people were injured, including a man and a woman who were hit by falling rocks while hiking in Taroko Gorge, which cuts through the mountains west of Hualien. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. Taiwan’s Interior Ministry said that it had set up an emergency response centre.

All subway service in Taipei was temporarily cancelled, Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency reported.

Taiwan, which sits at the intersection of the Philippine Sea tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate, experiences frequent earthquakes.

A year ago a magnitude-6.4 quake in Hualien badly damaged buildings and killed at least 17 people.

In 2016, a temblor killed 117 people, almost all of whom died in a 17-story building that collapsed in the south-western city of Tainan.

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