NOT TO WORRY: The seismic activity was caused by groundwater entering a magma chamber, but a single earthquake cannot cause an eruption, a researcher saidBy Ting Yi, Yang Yuan-ting and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
UP SIDE: Yesterday’s 5.9 earthquake was felt nationwide, but no casualties were reported and the Seismological Center’s director said that aftershocks were unlikelyBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
HELPING Hand: The government is to provide NT$30,000 in disaster relief to displaced people, while those who have been severely injured would receive NT$250,000/ Staff writer, with CNA
More observations are necessary to determine whether five earthquakes that struck off the coast of Yilan County yesterday were part of an emerging earthquake swarm, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.
The five quakes, with magnitudes varying from 3.6 to 4, occurred at 9:38am, 9:51am, 9:53am, 10:10am and 4:42pm, bureau data showed.
The epicenters were from 23.4km to 25.6km northeast of the Yilan County Government Hall, the data showed.
The largest intensity generated by the earthquakes was level 2, which was felt mostly in Yilan County, the data showed.
In Taitung County, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck off the coast at 7:41am, with the
Nearly 8,000 train passengers were delayed after a magnitude 6 earthquake struck Hualien County at 9:05am yesterday.
The Taiwan Railways Administration said the earthquake delayed 6,196 passengers on 31 trains, and about 1,700 passengers on the Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line.
No casualties had been reported as of press time last night, but televised footage showed business owners in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) cleaning up damaged goods and broken glass.
Footage from a surveillance camera at Liyu Lake (鯉魚潭), a tourist destination on the east coast, showed that the quake caused the lake to shake vertically.
The quake’s epicenter was 37.7km southwest of