Massive 7.5 Earthquake Rocks Taiwan

[-mjk-]

I was trying to get my full 8 hours sleep, having gone to bed at midnight. At 07:59 my phone sounded a Presidential Alert and then my wife started screaming. The bed rocked so hard I had to sit up. I have never felt such a large earthquake in my 20 years here. The house was very heavily dancing around in a complex motion. It was both lateral and Z axis - very disconcerting. After checking with my wife, I found that nothing was rattled in the studio. My area was affected to magnitude 5+

I'll follow up with some photos as I acquire them from friends. In the meantime, here is the English website listing all the Taiwan earthquakes as they happen:

Recent Earthquake Report- Central Weather Administration

newest 15 Earthquake Report

www.cwa.gov.tw

This is a YouTube video from Hualian, where the effects were highest magnitude (6+):

This video shows how cool Taiwan people are. I'll try and do a rough translation for you:

The neighborhood men are searching for trapped people. They are using the term "bao bei" which means treasure and is typically a term of endearment for children. Their focus is on finding trapped children. So you'll hear them point and say things like "Is there a treasure over there?" Then the find the woman coming out:

Be careful (several people, as the woman is emerging).
Miss, are there other people?
(In the background there are other people being brought out of places off camera and some of the men are saying to exit slowly. It's unclear but there is also a woman saying "3rd floor, 3rd floor)
(As I type this I feel another aftershock!)
(Asking the man) Are there any other people?
No.
No? (reaffirming statement)
What floor are you from?
3rd floor.
3rd floor (reaffirming statement, pointing).
You came down from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor?
Yes.
(repeats) You came from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor.
The motorcycles here don't have any free space.

Followup:

Another video from the same place, showing the whole fallen building:

 

[shredd]

Dang…am picking through the coverage of this. A 7.5’er is a doozy…it’s actually pretty amazing that there wasn’t MORE damage/casualties.

Am imagining your studio gear is less impacted than you n yr wife. What an ordeal!

 

[Felonious Punk]

Glad you guys are OK, MJ. Best to all going forward.

FP

 

[Arjan P]

Wow, saw some other footage too with whole buildings (staying whole!) dropping to the side.. Glad you and yours are OK, mj!

 

[-mjk-]

Dang…am picking through the coverage of this. A 7.5’er is a doozy…it’s actually pretty amazing that there wasn’t MORE damage/casualties.

Am imagining your studio gear is less impacted than you n yr wife. What an ordeal!

I fully expected my Adam reference monitors to be on the floor, wrecked. But they, and the Tascam monitors did not budge a single cm. Today is a holiday so fortunately many people don't have to travel to work.

 

[-mjk-]

Glad you guys are OK, MJ. Best to all going forward.

FP

Thank you FP.

 

[-mjk-]

@Arjan P, Thanks man. We found a couple of new cracks in the 1st floor restroom tiles but so far nothing else. Certainly nothing major.

My follower network has sent me literally hundreds of photos and videos from the affected area. Some of them are insane! I did a live stream last night (my time) and using PRISM Live Studio I showed many of the photos and videos. I'll post the link if anyone want to see it (don't want to SPAM). Our 5G mobile network is under huge pressure because of the loss of landline connections. Yesterday, my neighborhood only had functioning 3G for several hours! When the 5G returned, it had less than 1/2 of the normal throughput. That made the life stream somewhat pixelated at times but the point was made.

 

[shredd]

Glad to hear you n the wife (AND your studio!) came through in one piece. It sounds like there's areas where the damage was much more severe than your neighborhood...and - like most 'natural' disasters - lots of disruptions and cleanup/rebuilding to be done. But my observation is still: coulda been way worse...a quake of that magnitude, located where it was, and relatively near the surface...it coulda been Turkey '23. And thankfully no tsunami!!!

 

[-mjk-]

@shredd a YouTube news channel compared that very Turkey earthquake to this recent one in Taiwan, where they commended the Taiwan government for the changes that were implemented since the 921 earthquake that killed over 2,000 people in central Taiwan. The death toll stands currently at 10, with just over 1,000 injured. New building codes, tighter inspection, reduced corruption all came into play this time. There was a tsunami but it was downgraded to a lesser wave height. The nearby Japanese islands apparently are OK.

 

[shredd]

That's ossum!
As an American, the idea of government acknowledging reality and taking responsibility/action is a pretty laughable concept, along the lines of world peace, a one-pill cure for cancer, or politicians with honesty/integrity.

So props to Taiwan's gov't for it's accomplishment. I think there are possibly thousands there who might've perished or been injured from the quake that are pretty happy about this progress!!!