Tsunami‑ish Tremor Shakes Taiwan’s East Coast
The 6.4‑moment quake that rattled the eastern shoreline of Taiwan on February 7th has left a trail of chaos: two people lost their lives, and more than 200 others were hurt. Buildings crumbled and folks found themselves trapped inside.
Hualien’s Hard‑Hit Locations
- Marshal Hotel: The star of the drama, it tipped over like a drunken tower, “half‑lying on its side.” Rescuers piled up a crane, fighting to lift injured tourists from the upper floors.
- Residential Block: The same fate as the hotel, plastered with shattered windows and fallen beams.
- Hospital & Five Other Structures: All sustained damage, with the road below spilling rubble, highways showing gritty fissures, and some buildings leaning like unwilling statues.
First‑hand Stories
- Resident Blue Hsu – “It’s the biggest quake I’ve felt in Hualien in over a decade.” He vividly recollected the basement sinking into ground, tourists flooding into rescue zones, and a mud‑slick bulldozer along with 50 rescuers defending a precarious corner.
- Facebook chronicle by Sun Chen‑hsiang – “Watch this livestream, folks, but leave your house. Do what you say: stay safe.” His own home’s neighbor collapsed, a chilling reminder.
- Photos from Apple Daily – a man raising his voice for help from a shattered apartment window; a local hospital’s ceiling crumbling like a popcorn stall.
County Firefighters Update
Hualien fire officials reported rescuing 149 people from the wreckage. A few other victims are still trapped, and the neat total remains elusive.
Personal Accounts of Panic
- Ms. Amy Chen (64) – a florist‑teacher with a tremor‑spooked serenity: “I’ve never felt such a quake.” She described how bookshelves toppled, vases and glasses littering the floor, and her living room instinctively became a safe haven, armed with a water bottle, phone, purse, and a jacket ready for a quick exit.
Official Reassurances
President Tsai Ing‑wen reached out on Facebook, vowing swift relief for the battered islands and ensuring that emergency teams were on standby across Taiwan.
Aftershocks & Weather Bureau Updates
According to Taiwan’s weather service, at least 15 aftershocks have rattled the region since the initial quake.
In short, the east coast of Taiwan has been soberly shaken—a city on the edge of beauty hit hard, civilians grappling with the unusual, and officials racing to stand by their people.
QUAKE ANNIVERSARY
Night‑Time Nuisance: Hualien’s 4.5‑Magnitude Shock
At 11:50 pm in the wee hours, a 4.5‑tonner rattled 21 km northeast of Hualien. The U.S. Geological Survey got the call, and the island was already on its toes after almost 100 tiny tremors in the past three days.
Feeling the Past: A 2‑Year Reprise
- Exactly two years later – the same 4.5 magnitude – a quake rattled Tainan, leaving a grim tally of over 100 dead.
- The 2016 blast toppled the 16‑storey Wei‑kuan apartment block sideways, burying residents in a tragic collapse.
- That building is the only high‑rise in Tainan that went completely sideways.
- And, to the world’s shock, it happened just two days before Chinese New Year: a period when families are sprawled across the country, celebrating their biggest holiday.
Majestic Mishaps: Diving into Construction Flaws
- After the destruction, residents plaintively mentioned: “Metal cans and foam were used as fillers in the concrete!”
- Some claimed the building had pre‑existing cracks.
- Five guilty parties — the developer, two architects, and two others — received a five‑year jail sentence.
- Prosecutors called the culprits “corner‑cutters” whose shortcuts compromised the structure’s integrity.
Geological Playground: Taiwan’s Plate‑Patchy Reality
Being smack dab between two tectonic plates, Taipei’s islands’re in a perpetual earthquake zone.
Historically Harrowing: The 1999 Seismic Spectacle
Back in September 1999, a 7.6‑magnitude quake slammed the region, claiming about 2,400 lives – the worst tremor of recent decades.
