Deadly Magnitude-6.3 Earthquake Strikes Near Taiwan, Triggers Tsunami Alerts

By Mark Leberfinger, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

April 20,2015; 11:35AM,EDT

 

 

One person is dead after a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck Monday morning off the coast of Taiwan and caused tsunami alerts in the region.
The 84-year-old man died as a result of an earthquake-related fire in Xinzhuang, a Taipei suburb, The Associated Press reported. An electrical transformer exploded due to the earthquake and caused the fire, officials told The AP.
A second person was injured from the fire.
The temblor occurred at 9:42 a.m. Taiwan Standard Time Monday (9:42 p.m. EDT Sunday) with an epicenter 66 kilometers (41 miles) southeast of Su'ao, Taiwan. The country's Central Weather Bureau listed the earthquake as a magnitude 6.3.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported the initial magnitude at 6.8 while the United States Geological Survey recorded it as a magnitude-6.6.
In a photo provided by the Taipei Fire Department, vehicles are seen piled on themselves in an automated parking tower after the lift system failed during the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck off the island's eastern coast in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, April 20, 2015. No injuries resulted in the accident. The date that this photo was taken, seen in bottom right, is from the camera of the Taipei Fire Department. (Taipei Fire Department via AP).
A water pipe broke on a New Taipei City street and a mechanical parking tower malfunctioned with 11 vehicles damaged in Taipei, the Central News Agency reported.
Rain and occasional thunderstorms may hamper any cleanup efforts in northern Taiwan into Tuesday morning, local time, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Adam Douty said.
"Some rain and thunder will linger into the morning. The afternoon should trend drier with just a few lingering showers but staying rather cloudy," Douty said. "It will be dry on Wednesday and Thursday with clouds and sun, and turning a little warmer."
The earthquake was felt the strongest in Taipei, New Taipei City and Yilan county in Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said. A 5.0-aftershock occurred about 6 minutes after the initial earthquake.
The JMA had issued tsunami advisories for the Miyakojima and Yaeyama areas of Japan. A tsunami wave up to 1 meter (3 feet) was forecast to affect those areas, but those advisories were dropped about an hour after they were issued.
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Four schools in Ishigaki City, Japan, were under a voluntary evacuation as a result of the earthquake, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
No tsunami threat was expected for the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska, the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.