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2006 Hengchun earthquakes

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2006 Hengchun earthquake
UTC time??
Magnitude7.1 Mw
Areas affectedPhysical: Taiwan
Communications: Various countries in East and Southeast Asia
Casualties2 dead; 42 injured

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 epicenter 21.9 km deep in the Luzon Strait (21°53′N 120°34′E / 21.89°N 120.56°E / 21.89; 120.56), 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 [1], the United States Geological Survey estimating it at 7.1 Mw [2], the Hong Kong Observatory [3] , and the Japan Meteorological Agency [4] 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. [5] 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.

Damage

Taiwan

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. [6] [7]

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. [8]

Fifteen historical buildings, including a Grade 2 historical site, have been damaged in the historic center of Hengchun. [9]

The Nuclear Power Plant 3 of Taiwan Power Company nearby was affected by the earthquake too. Because of the vigorous vibration, the alarm at Reactor #2 was activated, forcing the operators to carry out SCRAM immediately. However, Reactor #1 was not affected and remained operational. After the emergency shutdown of Reactor #2, engineers checked the facilities at the plant and no problems had been found. [10]

Hong Kong and Macau

Residents in different districts of Hong Kong felt the earthquake. Fearing the collapse of their buildings, people in Sham Shui Po, Wong Tai Sin and Yuen Long ran down to the streets. In Macau, residents called the observatory to ask whether earthquake occured in their city[11]

China

There were no reports of major damage in China although the quake could be felt there. In Xiamen, Fujian, people evacuated form their home and office to open spaces. [12] The earthquake could also be felt in various cities in Guangdong province and Fujian province (e.g. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou and Fuzhou.)[13]

Aftershocks

Aftershocks greater than 5 Richter magnitude scale (or more correctly local magnitude ML scale) are listed in the table below:

Template:Entête tableau charte ! # ! Time ! Location ! Magnitude ! Depth |----- | 1 | December 26, 2006 20:34 UTC+8 | 22.5°N, 120.51°E, 11.6 km northwestern of Fangliao | 6.4 ML | 21.3 km [14] |-Template:Grey row | 2 | December 26, 2006 20:40 UTC+8 | 21.94°N, 120.4E, 35.4 km western of Hengchun | 5.2 ML | 25.0 km [15] |----- | 3 | December 26, 2006 22:53 UTC+8 | 21.86°N, 120.39°E, 39.8 km southwestern of Hengchun | 5.2 ML | 25.0 km [16] |-Template:Grey row | 4 | December 26, 2006 23:41 UTC+8 | 22.09°N, 120.22°E, 31.6 km southwestern of Little Liuchiu Island | 5.5 ML | 23.0 km [17] |----- | 5 | December 27 2006 01:35 UTC+8 | 21.78°N, 120.31°E, 50.4 km southwestern of Hengchun | 5.8 ML | 32.6 km [18] |-Template:Grey row | 6 | December 27, 2006 10:30 UTC+8 | 22.03°N, 120.33°E, 35.1 km southern of Little Liuchiu Island | 5.9 ML | 28.0 km [19] |----- | 7 | December 28 2006 17:38 UTC+8 | 21.96°N, 120.56°E, 54.5 km southwestern of Hengchun | 5.3 ML | 54.5 km [20] |}

In addition, three others were reported that were of at least 4.7 intensity according to the Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau [21].

Tsunami warning

Taiwan

It was the first time for Taiwan to detect tsunami. Fortunately, the change in water level was 25 cm only, therefore there was no report of damage. [22]

Warning from agencies in other areas

Early reports issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency indicated that the earthquake triggered a 1 meter tsunami, which was detected heading for the east coast of the Philippines, with Basco in its likely path. [23] The Hong Kong Observatory also issued tsunami warning [24], while indicating Hong Kong would likely be unaffected. [25]

This quake took place on the second anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which devastated Southeast and South Asia. That 2004 earthquake registered as a magnitude 9.1, and caused a tsunami with waves reaching as high as 10 meters across the Indian Ocean.

Disruption in communications

The earthquake catastrophically disrupted Internet services in Asia, affecting many Asian countries. Financial transactions, particularly in the foreign exchange market were seriously affected too. The aforementioned disruption was caused by damage to several submarine communications cables.[26]

China Telecom reported that several international submarine communications cables had been broken [27] [28], including:

Taiwan

Chunghwa Telecom stated that an undersea cable off the southern coast had been damaged [31], interrupting communications (including IDD, telephone services and internet services) of Taiwan with China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

Hong Kong SAR

Starting from the dawn of December 27, connection between foreign web sites/servers and Hong Kong internet users kept failing. Wikipedia, search engines, online messengers like ICQ and MSN Messenger, and portals like Google, Yahoo! and MSN have been largely unavailable. Access to Chinese Wikipedia was cut by the earthquake too, as the servers are located in South Korea.[32] Websites located in mainland China, such as xinhuanet.com, the website of Xinhua News Agency, were also unaccessable.

On December 29, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) [1] of Hong Kong Government announced that, IDD and roaming calls to Taiwan have resumed to 50% of the normal level. IDD and roaming calls to other Asian countries (e.g. South Korea) are slower than normal condition. Calls from Hong Kong to overseas using calling cards have the same situation as the IDD and roaming calls. [33]

However, calling from overseas to Hong Kong using calling cards is still facing serious congestion. [34]

For internet services, as of December 29, connections to web sites in the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Taiwan were still very slow. However, the situation was improving, sites could not be accessed before (e.g. Wikipedia, Google, YouTube) were available at extremely slow speed. [35] Among the internet service providers in Hong Kong, PCCW's Netvigator was the slowest to resume enough bandwidth for their users. [36] Therefore, as a temporary remedy, many internet users in Hong Kong used proxy servers in Australia, Thailand, Spain or even the UAE and Kuwait to access foreign websites.

Philippines

The earthquake has cut Philippine telecoms company PLDT's capacity and connectivity by as much as 40 percent [37] The two largest Philippine mobile communications companies Smart Communications and Globe Telecom had also reported some international connectivity problems at that time. The rest (60%) of telephone and Internet capacity was operational as carriers rerouted through other links to North America, the Middle East, Hawaii, Malaysia and Singapore. [37] Call centers and other outsourced business processes that have become a major industry in the Philippines feared that the cable damage might hamper their operations dramatically; only two centers were totally shut down due to the problems. [37]

Other areas

Korea Telecom[38], Malaysia's Telekom Malaysia [39] and Jaring [40], as well as Singapore's StarHub and SingTel [41] and Brunei's Telbru have also reported disruption to most Internet services. In Singapore, search engines and portals like Google, Yahoo!, MSN and most websites have been virtually unreachable. In Indonesia, Google is not accessible , but Yahoo! and Wikipedia can still be used.Sri Lankan Internet services have likewise been affected. In Malaysia, there were problems with popular Internet services [42] such as Gmail and Yahoo! News, however the situation is reported to be improving on 29 December.

Repairing work

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom is currently in the midst of repairing works, four cable ships will be deployed. It is estimated that the repair work will take two to three weeks, depending on the condition of the submarine cables. [43]

IDD Services and disrupted internet service in Southeast Asia has been greatly restored pending the repairs and rerouted traffic. [44]

See also

References

  1. ^ Earthquake Report #95106, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  2. ^ USGS Earthquake Hazards Program » Magnitude 7.1 - TAIWAN REGION, USGS, 2006-12-26
  3. ^ List of locally felt earth tremors since 1979, Hong Kong Observatory
  4. ^ 台湾付近震度分布図, Japan Meteorological Agency (日本気象庁), 2006-12-26
  5. ^ 2 KILLED IN STRONGEST EARTHQUAKE IN HENGCHUN IN 100 YEARS, Central News Agency, Taiwan, 2006-12-27
  6. ^ 台灣接連規模6.7、6.4強震　高屏震度5級　全台強烈搖晃, ETtoday, Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  7. ^ Clean up work begins after Taiwan quake, Associated Press, 2006-12-27
  8. ^ Taiwan starts earthquake clean-up, CNN, 2006-12-26
  9. ^ 恆春古城 城倒15座, UDN, Taiwan, 2006-12-27
  10. ^ 台湾核电厂紧急停机, Phoenix Television website, 2006-12-27
  11. ^ 受 台 灣 7.2 級 地 震 影 響 香 港 地 震 居 民 恐 慌 逃 入 警 署, Apple Daily, 2006-12-27
  12. ^ 恆春地震廈門亦感震動, Ming Pao News, 2006-12-26
  13. ^ 台湾南部海域地震福建、广东普遍有感, Xinhua News Agency website, 2006-12-26
  14. ^ Earthquake Report #95107, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  15. ^ Earthquake Report #95108, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  16. ^ Minor Earthquake Report, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  17. ^ Earthquake Report #95109, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-26
  18. ^ Minor Earthquake Report, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-27
  19. ^ Earthquake Report #95110, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-27
  20. ^ Minor Earthquake Report, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan, 2006-12-28
  21. ^ Recent Earthquake, Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan
  22. ^ 從恆春地震看國內建築防震問題, 新浪新聞中心|中廣新聞網, 2006-12-28
  23. ^ Taiwan starts earthquake clean-up, CNN, December 26 2006
  24. ^ Tsunami Information and Warning, Hong Kong Observatory
  25. ^ 天文台預計海嘯不會影響香港, Metro Broadcast Corporation, 2006-12-26
  26. ^ Quakes disrupt Asia communications, CNN, 2006-12-27
  27. ^ 地震損電纜影響通信上網, Ming Pao, 2006-12-27
  28. ^ Submarine communications cable map of China
  29. ^ Asia communications hit by quake, BBC NEWS, 2006-12-27
  30. ^ 地震損電纜影響通信上網, Ming Pao News, 2006-12-27
  31. ^ 受台灣南部昨晚八點多發生的 6.5級強震影響，中華電信擁有之國際海纜招致重大破壞, Chunghwa Telecom press release, 2006-12-27
  32. ^ 地震毀電纜影響國際通訊, Ming Pao News website, 2006-12-27
  33. ^ OFTA's Update on 29 December on the Restoration of External Telecommunications Services, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, Hong Kong SAR, 2006-12-29
  34. ^ 海底電纜或需多於七天修復, Sing Tao Daily, 2006-12-29
  35. ^ 長途電話恢復 部分網站仍緩慢 , Ming Pao, 2006-12-29
  36. ^ 香港網民對各大ISP表現的投票, discuss.com.hk
  37. ^ a b c Quake cuts RP telecoms services by 40 percent The Manila Times Retrieved 28 December, 2006.
  38. ^ Asia communications hit by quake, BBC NEWS, 2006-12-27
  39. ^ Taiwan earthquake disrupts TM's Internet service, TheEdgeDaily, 2006-12-27
  40. ^ Quake shakes up the Net, The Star Online, 2006-12-28
  41. ^ Earthquake in Taiwan results in slow internet service in Singapore, Channel NewsAsia, 2006-12-27
  42. ^ Internet access improves, The Star Online, 2006-12-29
  43. ^ 國際通訊調度電路持續改善恢復, Chunghwa Telecom press release
  44. ^ Telecoms services in Asia could take weeks to fully return, Channel NewsAsia, 2006-12-28

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