A major earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck Taiwan’s central east coast earlier today ( April 3 ), which was approximately 20 kilometers south of Hualien.
Locals close to the epicenter described harsh to severe ground shaking that was strong enough to make it difficult to stand and drive a car. It was reported to be felt throughout the nation as well as in neighboring China.
What are the current findings regarding the earthquake and possible effects?
Death and injury
According to reports from media sources, the earthquake caused at least four fatalities and injured dozens of people.
Hualien City is one of the largest community centres on the west coast, despite the fact that the majority of Taiwan’s population resides on the west coast of the nation. Its people is about 100, 000.
In the area that is close to the earthquake’s center, including Hualien City, developing damage has been reported.
Along the hilly central west coast, there were also floods.
Taiwan and other local nations, including Japan and the Philippines, have been issued a storm notice. At the time of reading, a 30 cm storm was reported along the west coast of Japan. Although it is unlikely to have caused significant damage, this would have appeared as a sizable rise on the beach.
A larger storm wave does not occur as the first surge, so it becomes more likely that this will happen as the years go on.
Was there any notice?
Although disasters cannot be predicted, Taiwan has an early warning system.
As the epicentral region experiences ground shaking, this system quickly issues an alert that travels more quickly than the geological energy and ground shaking that results.
It most probably provided important warnings to those who lived away from the center.
What kind of earthquake was it, exactly?
Preliminary estimates place the earthquake’s rupture 10 to 40 km beneath the earth’s surface.
A shallower disaster is more likely to cause damage to nearby buildings because it typically causes stronger earth shaking than a deeper quake.
The most recent analysis of the data from this quake suggests that it was possible the earthquake’s fault and was at the deep end of this range. In the coming days, satellite data from the Earth’s surface may reveal more about earth displacement.
On a slow fault, the earthquake ruptured. The Earth’s surface is raised on one side by the earthquake in this region. This may cause the sea floor to be shifted vertically, causing a storm.
There have already been 13 tremors of greater than scale 5.0, all powerful enough to cause their own earth shaking in a large portion of the nation, which occured roughly three hours after the initial quake.
Buildings that were only severely damaged by the principal shock does collapse due to strong aftershocks.
earthquake past in the area
There have previously been disasters in the Hualien area. This region experienced an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 in February 2018, which unfortunately left 17 people dead.
The main function of a series of tectonic activities in early 2018 included a foreshock of scale 6.1. A foreshock is an disaster of a smaller scale that occurs within days or weeks of a larger disaster in the same area. We are unaware that a collapse is a foreshock until the mainshock occurs.
Using applicable disaster data, my research revealed that the Hualien area experiences earthquakes larger than scale 7 about once every 30 years.
The enormity 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake, which struck inland Taiwan in 1999, was the largest earthquake ever to strike the country.
More than 2, 400 people lost their lives as a result of this disaster.
Aftershocks from tomorrow’s scale 7.4 disaster are likely to continue to occur for days and weeks.
We ca n’t rule out the possibility that the earthquake of today was n’t even the largest in this series, though the likelihood of a bigger-associated event decreases as time goes on.
Where may I get more information?
Be wary of what you read or see on social media; in the first moments of a natural disaster, people frequently share footage that truly shows various disasters.
For changes, I recommend following Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, which is reporting on waves and storm warnings as more data comes to hand.
Dee Ninis is Earthquake Scientist, Monash University
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