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Strong Quake Rattles Taiwan, over 20 Injured
A strong earthquake linked to a destructive September 1999 quake, in which 2,400 people had died, rocked Taiwan early on Sunday injuring more than 20 people.
Disaster response officials said there were no reports of major damage, but ``Premier'' Tang Fei warned that rainstorms expected in the region could carry the potential for earthslides.
"In some areas, citizens and local government must be on alert. Preventive measures must be taken and don't be afraid of the hassle," Tang said. "When earthslides actually happen, there is no time to react."
The Central Weather Bureau has issued torrential rain warnings effective through June 13. Earthslides already have cut off highways crossing the island's interior.
Seismologists at the Central Weather Bureau said Sunday's quake, centred in the sparsely populated interior of the country, registered 6.7 on the open-ended Richter scale and occurred at 2:23 a.m. (1823 GMT Saturday). They reported 170 aftershocks.
"According to our research this earthquake related to the September 21 quake," an official at the Central Weather Bureau's seismology centre told Reuters.
Semiconductor makers in northern Hsinchu Science Park, one of the world's top microchip production bases and an engine of Taiwan's export economy, were unaffected, the Central News Agency (CNA) said.
The quake reawakened fears of the devastation late last year, when 2,400 died and industry was stalled for weeks, with power outages and electricity rationing.
Fearing a repeat of the September quake, which had measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, several people were injured in Nantou by leaping from second-storey windows, independent cable broadcaster TVBS said.
Hsinchu-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp, the world's two largest contract chipmakers, suffered no power cuts in the latest quake and operations were normal.
TVBS said one man died of a heart attack during the quake.
Taiwan lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin and earthquakes occur frequently.
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