Taiwan which lies directly on two trenches of tectonic plates was again last week rocked by an earth quake that measured 5 on the scale. Pertaining earlier years, the biggest recorded earthquake was 4 on the Richter scale. Taiwan is situated in a Zone 2; it is not surprising that an earthquake occurs, the issue is in when it happens to be at a populated area.
The last of them was not as powerful as some of the earlier earthquakes which occurred in the island, however it falls under a category that is capable of causing a certain level of perceivable shake, cause structures to shake and even make inhabitants panic. From eye witness account structures were said to be shaking and this forced some residents to be evacuated their premises in some areas.
The 5. As can be seen, it falls into the moderate category; nevertheless, let me remind that the 4 magnitude tremor is evidence of the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters. The level of seismic activity in Taiwan is rather high because of its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire but the chances of an earthquake that may endanger lives of many depends on depth of the movement and closeness to the areas of development.
No large scale damages could be linked to this specific quake but it seemed to provoke doubts as to the structural soundness of buildings particularly in older parts of the country. The electoral structure of Taiwan is as strong as the buildings in the country that is developed to withstand geographical disaster like quakes and each time there is a big one houses are checked.
In the individual accounts there were felt sensations of the earthquake in the broad area after the event. It felt like being in a ship rocking; this feeling created stampede in which some people ran out of their houses and offices. Crazy people’s commuter lives were disrupted briefly as a few areas of public transport were halted as a precautionary measure, Local authorities felt the pulse on whether there were any losses or gains with or without the public transport service. Luckily, the initial signs point out to the fact that no loss of lives or severe cases of injuries emerged even though officials expect more quakes.
Taiwan’s government and emergency services have always been on call to handle such occurrences and the rapid response protype demonstrated in this event ensured that further risks were averted. Earthquake drills and preparedness programmes are now part and parcel of living in Taiwan and this is why the country now has a society that can adequately respond to sudden earthquakes.
Thus, it is impossible not to note that a psychological shock of an earthquake, even if it concerns a relatively insignificant earthquake, has to be taken into consideration. What I found most surprising was that for the people who experience these tremors, especially in the developed cities where the oscillations of large commercial complexes are most conspicuous, the experience is rather disconcerting.
This is one of the primary things that are considered; there is always the danger of other quakes, worse most of the time than the first one, always a possibility. The Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan is closely monitoring the quakes in this part of the ’Ring of Fire’ and is appealing to the people to prepare to tend to themselves and their needs in the next few hours or days, for aftershocks that may follow the initial quake. Those that would only feel the first shake may stumble or lose their balance if there is another shake. The stakeholders have also advised people to keep off structurally unsound buildings and to heed to precommanded instructions.
Taiwan has a seismic activity implication on the entire region and in fact the whole world and though major earthquake have occurred in the past and affected the dwellers of Taiwan only it has also affected the authors of neighbouring countries. Especially in Information Technology Electronics, Taiwan as a leading manufacture of electronics products is much influenced during large scale earthquakes which in turn affects supply chain systems. It would also transpose another perspective in the manner in which the country addresses the aftermath that accompanies such incidents.
Taiwan has also, in the history of earthquake, been one of the most badly hit países in the east Asian region. The Chi-Chi earthquake which commenced in 1999 was of 7 in its magnitude. 6, was potent to a degree that much harm and sometimes loss of lives could be inflicted. Therefore due to the happening of this disaster the government of Taiwan adopted many severe new regulation regarding the construction of building and few new methods of handling calamities. The impact of such shocks is ‘frozen’ in long-term memory of people; therefore, any new shake, including moderate one, causes certain concern among the population.
With these heightened perceptions of seismism, Taiwan is confronted not only with the risk that some hundreds of people can die in the centre of the republic due to an earthquake but also with the fact that its territory, which is on the frontiers of the Eurasian and Philippine mobile belts and the Pacific is characterised by a severe and complicated orography which aggravates the effects of seismism.
Tsumani is more prevalent in some zones than in others for example hilly areas where landslides are ever prevalent after an earthquake makes a menace to the rural populace and/or structures. In this case, there is no mention of any landslides even though such areas are always regarded as vulnerable and hence there is always monitoring.
This latest one has prove a point that one should always be prepare for another especially in areas that are often hit such as Taiwan. However, the island is much more focused to construction of strong buildings and structure for infrastructures respectively the island has also developed good mechanism of disaster management, yet nature is always a factor that is not easily dealt with. Each disaster is useful in so far as the fact that someone can recall that the specific disaster occurred and in making the populace heed public health announcements, and conduct earthquakes practice.
The residents of Taiwan are well familiar with the shakes, though this does not mean that this can be disregarded. Shaking of the ground means the shaking of what will remain as close to, if not, whole after an earthquake at best. But, with the experience that includes years of exposure, Taiwan again releives that they can emerge stronger and hopeful after each new tragedy.
