Portal:Disasters/Selected article/November 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2006 Hengchun earthquake occurred on December 26, 2006 at 12:25 UTC (20:25 local time), with an epicenter off the southwest coast of Taiwan, approximately 22.8 km west southwest of Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan, with an exact hypocenter 21.9 km deep in the Luzon Strait (), which connects the South China Sea with the Philippine Sea.
There are conflicting reports of the magnitude of the quake, with the Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau marking it at 6.7 ML, the United States Geological Survey estimating it at 7.1 Mw, the Hong Kong Observatory, and the Japan Meteorological Agency put the magnitude at 7.2 Mw. Taiwan's Central News Agency is reporting that it is the strongest earthquake to hit Hengchun in one hundred years. The earthquake not only caused casualties and building damages, but also damaged several undersea cables, disrupting telecommunication services in various parts of Asia. Coincidentally, the earthquake occurred on the second anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that devastated the coastal communities across Southeast and South Asia and 3rd anniversary of the 2003 earthquake that devastated the southern Iranian city of Bam.
News agencies aired reports in southern Taiwan of collapsed houses, building fires, hotel guests being trapped in elevators, and telephone outages due to severed lines. Two people were reported killed and 42 injured. The earthquake was felt all over Taiwan, including the capital city of Taipei, which is 450 km north of Hengchun. Power was knocked out to a reported 3,000 homes, but service was restored within a few hours. As of the following morning, cleanup was already underway. Fifteen historical buildings, including a Grade 2 historical site, have been damaged in the historic center of Hengchun.
