Taiwan earthquake December 2006

On 26 December, 2006 about 20:26 hrs (Taiwan Local Time), an earthquake magnitude 7.1 occurred with an fifteen miles off the southwest coast of Taiwan and fourteen miles deep in the South China Sea. It not only caused casualties and building damages, but also damaged several undersea cables, disrupting telecommunication services in various parts of Asia.

Various News agencies reported collapsed houses in southern Taiwan along with buildings on fire, hotel guests trapped in elevators, and telephones out of operation due to severed lines. Two people were reported killed and fortytwo injured. The earthquake was felt all over Taiwan, including the capital city of Taipei, three hundred miles north of the epicenter. Power was lost in 3,000 homes, but service was restored within a day. A nuclear power plant was affected by the severe shaking that followed the earthquake from aftershocks and emergency procedures were put in place immediately to prevent leakage of radiation.

Residents in Hong Kong were so alarmed by the impact of the quake that they ran out into the streets in large numbers, fearing the collapse of their apartment buildings.