6.3-magnitude earthquake kills one in Taiwan
June 2, AP – A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Sunday, killing one person and violently shaking building in the capital Taipei, officials said. The powerful quake sent people running into the streets and was also felt in Hong Kong.
The tremor hit at 1:43 pm (0543 GMT) centred 32 kilometres (20 miles) east of central Nantou country at a depth of 10 kilometres, Taiwan’s Seismology Centre said.
The National Fire Agency said a male mountain climber was killed after being hit by falling rocks on Mount Ali in central Taiwan.
The agency told AFP that four helicopters had been sent to scout the epicentre area as the authorities were waiting for possible further damage information.
Nantou county was the epicentre of a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 21, 1999 that killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s recent history.
Philippine quake injures 9 people, damages houses
An earthquake rattled a province in the southern Philippines as people slept, injuring at least nine people, damaging dozens of houses and setting off a landslide that partially blocked a road with boulders, officials said on Sunday.
The quake, which had a magnitude of 5.7, struck North Cotabato province and nearby regions late Saturday, causing the injuries, including to children, and damaging more than 30 houses, the approach to a bridge and water supply pipes in two villages, North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Tolentino-Mendoza said.
It damaged a school in the hilly village of Kimadzil where many residents remained jittery because of continuing aftershocks, said Mendoza, who added she scrambled out of her home like other villagers when the ground started to shake and objects fell off from shelves.
“It’s a big relief that no motorist was passing through our highway when boulders rolled down from the mountainside,” she said.
The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon in 1990.
Associated press writer for human rights observers – contributed to this report.
Category: International
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