2006 Hengchun earthquakes
UTC time | Doublet earthquake: |
---|---|
A: 2006-12-26 12:26:21 | |
B: 2006-12-26 12:34:15 | |
ISC event | |
A: 11123554 | |
B: 11123555 | |
USGS-ANSS | |
A: ComCat | |
B: ComCat | |
Local date | December 26, 2006 |
Local time | |
A: 20:26 | |
B: 20:34 | |
Magnitude | |
A: 7.0 Mw[1] | |
B: 6.9 Mw | |
Depth | 10 km (6.2 mi) [1] |
Epicenter | 21°49′N 120°37′E / 21.82°N 120.61°E [1] |
Areas affected | Taiwan |
Max. intensity | MMI VII (Very strong) |
Tsunami | Yes |
Aftershocks | 5.5 mb Dec 26 at 12:40 [2] 5.6 Mw Dec 27 at 2:30 [2] |
Casualties | 2 dead; 42 injured |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Taiwan_tectonics.png/220px-Taiwan_tectonics.png)
The 2006 Hengchun earthquakes occurred on December 26 at 20:26 and 20:34
Tectonic setting
Taiwan lies in a zone of complex interaction between the
Earthquake sequence
The sequence began with the first major earthquake at 12:26:21 (UTC), followed slightly less than eight minutes later by the second main shock at 12:34:15.
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
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 elephant site, were damaged in the historic center of
The 3rd nuclear power plant,
Hong Kong and Macau
Residents in different
, residents called the Office for Meteorological and Geophysical Services to ask whether an earthquake had occurred in their city.China
There were no reports of major damage in China, although the quake could be felt there. In Xiamen, Fujian, people evacuated their homes and offices to open spaces.[13] The earthquake could also be felt in various cities in Guangdong province and Fujian province (e.g. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou, and Fuzhou.)[14]
Tsunami
While this earthquake marked the first time a tsunami was detected in Taiwan, the change in water level was only 25 cm (9.8 in) and no damage was caused.[15] 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.[16] The Hong Kong Observatory also issued tsunami information bulletin,[17] while indicating Hong Kong would likely be unaffected.
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 as well.[18][19] The aforementioned disruption was caused by damage to several submarine communications cables.[20]
Taiwan
China
China Telecom reported that several international submarine communications cables had been broken,[23][24] including:
- UTC+8 approximately 9.7 km away from landing point in Fangshan, Pingtung County, Taiwan;
- Chongming, Shanghai, China;
- Taipei County(now New Taipei City), Taiwan;
- UTC+8;
Hong Kong
Starting from dawn on 27 December, connections between foreign websites/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 were largely unavailable. Access to Chinese Wikipedia was also cut by the earthquake, as the servers are located in South Korea.[28] Websites located in mainland China, such as xinhuanet.com, the website of Xinhua News Agency, were also inaccessible.
On 29 December, the
For internet services, as of December 29, connections to websites in the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan were still very slow. However, the situation was improving; sites which could not be accessed before (e.g. Wikipedia,
As of 31 December, the situation of internet connection had improved. Although sites that were previously unavailable became accessible, connection speeds were still slower than normal.[33]
Philippines
The earthquake cut
United States
In the United States, several networks and bloggers experienced a noticeable reduction in the volume of
Other areas
Repair work
According to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) of
Before the completion of the cable repair works, however, some countries had already found alternative methods to restore internet access. For example, by 3 January 2007, Singapore's
According to China Daily on 16 January, the repair work might be completed by the end of January, yet heavy winds in the Bashi Channel stirred up 10-to-12-meter waves, which made it impossible to resume work.[46]
See also
References
- ^ a b c ISC (2015), ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900–2009), Version 2.0, International Seismological Centre
- ^ a b USGS (September 4, 2009), PAGER-CAT Earthquake Catalog, Version 2008_06.1, United States Geological Survey
- S2CID 129517282.
- .
- .
- ^ 台灣接連規模6.7、6.4強震 高屏震度5級 全台強烈搖晃 Archived 2007-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, ETtoday, Taiwan, 2006-12-26 (in Chinese)
- ^ Clean up work begins after Taiwan quake, Associated Press, 2006-12-27
- ^ Taiwan starts earthquake clean-up, CNN, 2006-12-26
- ^ 恆春古城 城倒15座[permanent dead link], UDN, Taiwan, 2006-12-27 (in Chinese)
- ^ 台湾核电厂紧急停机 Archived May 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Phoenix Television website, 2006-12-27(in Chinese)
- ^ 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 (in Chinese)
- ^ "Press Release at 22:05HKT, December 26, 2006 by Hong Kong Observstory". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
- ^ 恆春地震廈門亦感震動 Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao, 2006-12-26(in Chinese)
- ^ 台湾南部海域地震福建、广东普遍有感, Xinhua News Agency website, 2006-12-26(in Chinese)
- ^ 從恆春地震看國內建築防震問題 Archived 2007-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, 新浪新聞中心|中廣新聞網, 2006-12-28 (in Chinese)
- ^ Taiwan starts earthquake clean-up, CNN, December 26, 2006
- ^ Tsunami Information and Warning Archived 2011-05-24 at the Wayback Machine, Hong Kong Observatory
- ^ 網上銀行服務仍「斷纜」 Archived 2012-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Sing Tao Daily, 2006-12-30 (in Chinese)
- ^ 韓股匯市受挫港交易無礙 星洲期貨受影響 「彭博」電訊一度中斷 Archived 2007-05-18 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao, 2006-12-28 (in Chinese)
- ^ Quakes disrupt Asia communications, CNN, 2006-12-27
- ^ 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 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Chunghwa Telecom press release, 2006-12-27(in Chinese)
- ^ "Earthquake disrupts Internet access in Asia" Archived 2007-11-25 at the Wayback Machine Computerworld, 2006-12-27
- ^ 地震損電纜影響通信上網 Archived 2007-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao, 2006-12-27(in Chinese)
- ^ "Submarine communications cable map of China". Archived from the original on 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
- ^ a b Asia communications hit by quake, BBC, 2006-12-27
- ^ 地震損電纜影響通信上網 Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao, 2006-12-27(in Chinese)
- ^ 中電信國際話音專線業務全部恢復 Archived 2012-07-09 at archive.today, Sing Tao Daily, 2006-12-31 (in Chinese)
- ^ 地震毀電纜影響國際通訊 Archived 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao website, 2006-12-27(in Chinese)
- Hong Kong SAR, 2006-12-29
- ^ 海底電纜或需多於七天修復 Archived 2008-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, Sing Tao Daily, 29 December 2006(in Chinese)
- ^ 長途電話恢復 部分網站仍緩慢 Archived 2012-07-23 at archive.today, Ming Pao, 2006-12-29(in Chinese)
- ^ 香港網民對各大ISP表現的投票 Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, discuss.com.hk (in Chinese) [unreliable source?]
- ^ 海底電纜修復延誤一周 Archived 2007-01-21 at the Wayback Machine, Sing Tao Daily, 2006-12-31(in Chinese)
- The Manila Times. December 29, 2006. Archived from the originalon January 11, 2007.
- ^ "Earthquake in Asia, Spam Plummets." 2006-12-27
- ^ Taiwan earthquake disrupts TM's Internet service Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, TheEdgeDaily, 2006-12-27
- ^ Quake shakes up the Net Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, The Star Online, 2006-12-28
- ^ CAT Telecom to invest in optical networks in the Indian Ocean, Thai News Agency, 2006-12-30
- Channel NewsAsia, 2006-12-27
- ^ Internet access improves Archived 2012-09-05 at the Wayback Machine, The Star Online, 2006-12-29
- Hong Kong Government, 2006-12-31
- ^ 網絡擠塞恐周二再現 光纜維修延至下月底 Archived 2007-01-21 at the Wayback Machine, Ming Pao, 2006-12-31 (in Chinese)
- Channel NewsAsia, 2006-12-28
- SingTelpress release, 2007-01-03
- ^ SingTel.com – Consumer – Internet – User ID: – Login as at:
- ^ "Undersea cable repairs could take 2 more weeks" (Page 1) & "A time-tested solution for Asia's damaged Internet cables" (Page 12), China Daily, 2007-01-16