TAIPEI – An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit near Taiwan, off the eastern coastline of the island, on April 3 morning, the Taiwan central weather administration said.
The strong quake knocked out power in several parts of Taipei, according to a Reuters witness. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the epicenter of the quake was 18km south of Taiwan’s Hualien City at a depth of 34.8km.
It also triggered a tsunami warning in Japan, prompting the country to issue an evacuation advisory for the coastal areas near the southern prefecture of Okinawa.
A tsunami of up to 3 meters was expected to reach Japan’s south-western coast around 9am, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
“Evacuate!” said a banner on Japanese broadcaster NHK.
“Tsunami is coming. Please evacuate immediately,” an anchor on NHK said. “Don’t stop. Do not go back.”
Japan was rocked by its deadliest earthquake in eight years on New Year’s Day when a 7.6 magnitude temblor struck in Ishikawa prefecture, on the western coast. More than 230 people died in the earthquake that left 44,000 homes fully or partially destroyed.
On March 11, 2011, the north-east coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest earthquake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami. Those events triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier. AFP, Reuters
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