Very strong dangerous (shallow) earthquake in Hualien County, Taiwan

Last update: October 31, 2013 at 3:30 pm by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

Update 15:19 UTC : – A man in Hualien County was crushed by furniture and has been taken to a hospital
– 8 people were trapped in an elevator when the earthquake struck
– The overall damage / injuries are looking fairly good at this time although it is still too soon to be conclusive as we need daylight to have a good overview.

Fallen products from shelves in a supermarket in New Taipei City – image courtesy cqnews.net

Update 14:56 UTC : Taiwan Railways reports that 46 trains affecting 9500 people have been delayed due to the earthquake

Update 14:51 UTC : The nuclear power plants in Taiwan are not affected.

Update 14:49 UTC : The Max Wyss theoretical damage engine gave the following values :
ESTIMATE OF HUMAN LOSSES
Injured Exp. min/max: 50/600
Fatalities Exp. min/max: 0/100
These results are mainly based on historical events – ER expects lower values than the minimum values of this calculation

Update 14:41 UTC : The earthquake occurred during darkness (8:02 PM). It is almost midnight right now and we do not expect a lot of news before the early morning hours, but we will of course continue to search for it.

Update 14:38 UTC : A 79 years old woman fell and broke something
Falling tiles are also being reported but nothing else so far.

Update 14:25 UTC : We expect landslides to damage some areas severely.
– USGS has decreased the Magnitude from the original M6.7 to M6.3 – Depth has been changed from 10 km to 12 km.
– Below the CWB list of aftershocks at the time of writing :

Update 11:20 UTC : – CWB Taiwan is reporting a Magnitude of 6.3 at a depth of 20 km, still very dangerous but less dangerous than the USGS values.

The earthquake is very dangerous and below land !

Pacific Tsunami message (NOT for the Taiwan coast) : NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON  HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.
HOWEVER – EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL  TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES  IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

Taiwan Intensity scale
Taiwan uses a scale which is more or less similar than Japan. Shaking values of 6 can be compared with JMA5+ which ER considers as potentially damaging :
CWB 6 or Very Strong shaking (Hualien County) : – People have trouble walking due to violent rocking.
– Damage to some buildings; heavy furniture overturns; doors and windows bend.
– Drivers have trouble steering; sand and clay blasts occur.
CWB 5 or Strong Shaking (Nantou, Yilan and Central Hualien Counties) : – Most people are considerably frightened.
– Walls crack; heavy furniture may overturn.
– Noticeably felt by drivers; some chimneys and large archways topple over.

61km (38mi) SSW of Hualian, Taiwan
61km (38mi) SSE of Buli, Taiwan
62km (39mi) ESE of Lugu, Taiwan
79km (49mi) SE of Nantou, Taiwan
744km (462mi) ENE of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

162 km S of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 20:02:09.0 2013-10-31
46 km S of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 20:02:09.0 2013-10-31

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 6.3

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-10-31 20:02:08

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-10-31 12:02:08

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 10 km

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/10/31/very-strong-earthquake-taiwan-on-october-31-2013/