Earthquakes rarely occur in a vacuum, and Hualien’s was no exception.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Morley J Weston
Hualien’s Feb. 6, 2018 earthquake toppled several buildings in the city, killed at least five people and injured over 250, but it was only one of a series of tremblors over a series of days.
This animation, compiled from Central Weather Bureau data, shows the series of lesser earthquakes that led up to the big one.
6 dead, 258 injured, and 67 missing so far from the Hualien earthquake late Tuesday night
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Mainland
The rescue teams continue their work in the evening (By Central News Agency)
Affairs Council (MAC) released on Wednesday evening the latest updates of foreigners among the casualties of the Hualien quake, saying that all of them suffered from minor injuries except for one Chinese tourist who was in critical condition.
A quake with a magnitude of 6 stroke Hualien City in eastern Taiwan near midnight on Tuesday, leaving 6 dead, 258 injured, and 67 missing so far. The rescue teams are racing with time to find those who are still trapped in the buildings and the number of casualties is expected to rise.
Four buildings were reported to have collapsed or on the verge of falling down, and two bridges have been sealed off due to severe damage. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/07
By Yeh Su-ping and Romulo Huang
Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Taiwan has received condolences from the governments of its 
diplomatic allies and other friendly nations on the losses suffered in a powerful earthquake that struck Hualien County in eastern Taiwan late Tuesday, the presidential office said Wednesday.
In response, the Taiwan government has expressed its thanks for the outpouring of sympathy and support, according to the presidential office.
As of Wednesday night, Taiwan had received messages of sympathy from the United States, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Belize, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, St. Lucia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the European Union, the office said.
[FULL STORY]
REORGANIZATION: The Central Weather Bureau changed its evaluation of a string of quakes, determining that a quake on Sunday was a foreshock to Tuesday’s temblor
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 08, 2018
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Seven people were killed and 260 injured after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off
Firefighters head toward the quake-hit Yun Men Tsui Ti building in Hualien yesterday.
Photo: CNA
the coast of Hualien County on Tuesday night, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday.
The center’s data showed that four buildings in Hualien City had collapsed or tilted due to the earthquake: the Marshal Hotel (統帥飯店), the Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤大樓) commercial and residential building and two apartment buildings on Guosheng 6th Street.
As of 9:30pm yesterday, 67 people were reported missing, 39 of whom were thought to have been in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building.
However, rescue efforts at the Yun Men Tsui Ti building have been precarious, with the building tilting ever more toward the ground amid multiple aftershocks. [FULL STORY]
Images on local television showed the Marshal Hotel in Hualien slanted on its side, partially crumpled into the ground.
Channel News Asia
Date: Feb 7, 2018
TAIPEI: A 6.4-magnitude quake on the east coast of Taiwan has left two dead and 214
Images on local television showed the Marshal Hotel in Hualien slanted on its side, partially crumpled into the ground.
injured, the government said, after buildings crumbled and trapped people inside.
About 150 people are missing, according to the government, with many believed to be still trapped inside buildings.
A hotel and a residential block were the worst hit by the quake in the port city of Hualien, said the national fire agency.
Five more buildings including a hospital had also been damaged, the agency added, with televison footage showing roads strewn with rubble, cracks along highways and damaged buildings tilted at angles.
Hualien, an area popular with tourists, is home to about 100,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the force of the quake, with around 40,000 homes left without water and more than 600 without power. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-06
The fate of a reactor at the nation’s number two nuclear power plant will not affect the
Premier William Lai (center) says that the fate of a reactor at the nation’s number two nuclear power plant will not affect the government’s plan to phase out nuclear power by 2025. (Photo by CNA)
government’s plan to phase out nuclear power by 2025. That’s the word from Premier William Lai on Tuesday.
Taiwan Power Company has applied to restart the reactor, which has been out of service since 2016. Lai said the phasing out of nuclear power will continue whether the application is approved or not. Lai said all three currently operating nuclear plants in Taiwan will be decommissioned once their licenses expire.
The premier said, “Whether the second reactor at the number two nuclear plant will be restored for operation will not affect President Tsai Ing-wen’s goal to phase out nuclear power by 2025. [FULL STORY]
A major earthquake has resulted in two fatalities and at least 100 injuries in the city of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/07
By: David Green
A major earthquake has resulted in two fatalities and at least 100 injuries in the city of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast.
Rescue efforts are underway as emergency services scramble to reach people potentially trapped in a partially collapsed hotel building after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck close to the city of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coastline Tuesday night.
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan confirmed in the early hours of Tuesday that two people had been confirmed dead while more than 100 had been injured as a result of the disaster as rescue operations continue.
The Marshal Hotel on Gongyuan Road in Hualien City suffered major subsidence to the extent that the fourth floor is now level with the first floor. The Parkview Hotel and a residential complex, No. 41 Guosheng Sixth Street, are also reported to have tilted significantly under the force of the tremor. [FULL STORY]
The strongest quake yet over past 48 hours, registering at magnitude 6.0, rattles eastern Taiwan’s Hualien
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien at
11:50 p.m. tonight (Feb. 7), the strongest quake yet of a period of 48 hours which has seen dozens of temblors in the same area, with many parts of Taiwan seeing dramatic shaking.
The epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was 18.3 northeast of Hualien County hall at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to Central Weather Bureau (CWB).
The the power of this quake resulted in an intensity level of 7 being felt in Hualien County and Yilan County, a level of 5 being felt on Nantou’s Hehuanshan, and a level of 4 being felt in Taichung City and Yunlin County. Meanwhile, an intensity level of 3 was felt in Taoyuan City, Hsingchu County, Taitung County, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Nantou County, Chiayi County, Changhua County, Yunlin County, Miaoli County, and Tainan City.
[FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/07
By: Lee Hsin-Yin, Christie Chen and Joseph Yeh
Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Hualien County in eastern Taiwan has reported several cases of 
severe damage to buildings, including a caved-in hotel, in the wake of a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck the area late Tuesday, according to the National Fire Agency.
The temblor that registered an intensity of 7 in downtown Hualien led to Marshal Hotel caving in and Beautiful Life Hotel tilting. A number of people were trapped in the buildings and firefighters have been working hard to help them out.
The military has also sent servicemen on rescue missions. [FULL STORY]
BLACK HAWK DOWN: A Sikorsky S-70C helicopter that was engaged in the search mission had to return yesterday evening because of an unknown instrument failure
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 07, 2018
By: Hsiao Yu-hsin, Chen Yi-yun, Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
A National Airborne Services Corps (NASC) rescue helicopter that went missing at about
A National Airborne Services Corps UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, which went missing off Orchid Island (Lanyu) in the early hours of yesterday, is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: National Airborne Services Corps / CNA
midnight yesterday when evacuating a medical patient from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) was still missing as of press time last night.
Although a search-and-rescue operation was being conducted, there was no sign of the helicopter and the six people onboard — three crew, an emergency medical technician, the patient and a family member of the patient.
At about 11:50pm on Monday, the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter with tail number NA-706 took off in poor weather, sources said, adding that it vanished from radar and radio contact and was lost within minutes.
Its last known location was 2 nautical miles (3.7km) southwest of Orchid Island, sources said.
At 1:26am yesterday, the National Rescue Command Center began moving helicopters and ships to the area, including NASC and air force helicopters, a Lafayette-class frigate and five coast guard vessels. [FULL STORY]
[FULL STORY]