Taiwan’s quake-hit eastern county of Hualien was rattled by more than 200 aftershocks late on Monday and early on Tuesday, but only minor damage was reported and no casualties and major chipmaker TSMC said it saw no impact on operations.
Largely rural and sparsely populated Hualien was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on April 3 that killed at least 17 people, and there have been more than 1,000 aftershocks since.
Buildings across large parts of northern, eastern and western Taiwan, including in the capital, Taipei, swayed throughout the night, with the largest quake measuring a 6.3 magnitude. All were very shallow.
“Especially at 2 a.m., it shook very strongly. In fact, for a moment even I thought about rushing downstairs, but as we live on the sixth floor, I felt it a bit troublesome to go down,” said Taipei resident Aden Peng, 44, a medical researcher.
I live in the east of Taiwan and it’s been pretty crazy since the big quake a while ago. There are often multiple tremors or small quakes every day. Nothing serious for me where I am so far but it’s kind of taxing, I hope it settles down soon. When one starts you never know how serious it will be.
EDIT: there was a story on the local news here saying there are many residents of Hualien who are choosing to live in their cars or in tents even though their homes are fine because they’re afraid of all the earthquakes happening. Must be really scary to be living there right now.