Worst Taiwan quake in 25 years leaves 9 dead, hundreds injured
Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century leveled dozens of buildings on the eastern side of the island, killing at least nine people and disrupting semiconductor production at some of the world’s leading chipmakers.
The quake hit at 7:58 a.m. local time Wednesday and measured 7.4 in magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which pinned the epicenter near the eastern city of Hualien. Shocks were felt as far away as Japan and China. At least nine people were killed,
934 were injured and 56 remain trapped, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center. More than two dozen buildings collapsed.
Taiwan weather authorities said it was the biggest seismic event by magnitude to hit Taiwan since 1999, when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit the center of island and killed more than 2,000 people. There have been several aftershocks, mostly clustered on the island’s east coast.
As the dominant producer of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, Taiwan is of paramount importance to the global economy. Any damage from the quake is being closely watched for potential effects on technology output, given the island accounts for more than half of the global market for laptops, motherboards, and network devices.
Its flagship firm
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — the world’s largest contract chipmaker — said following the quake that it had moved some staff out of its production centers. The company, a major supplier of chips to Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., later said there was “no damage to critical tools, including all of our extreme ultraviolet lithography tools.” TSMC said it expects to resume production overnight at facilities that were earlier interrupted.
United Microelectronics
Corp. said it evacuated some facilities in Hsinchu and Tainan, cities on the western side of Taiwan. The company halted operations of some chipmaking machines, and said it is working to get those machines online again. Acer Inc. Chairman and CEO Jason Chen said there was no material impact on operations.
Market reaction to the quake was fairly muted Wednesday. The benchmark Taiex Index fell as much as 1% before paring declines, with losses tracking those of the broader MSCI Asia Pacific Index. TSMC’S U.s.-traded shares were up 1.4% midmorning in New York and UMC was little changed. The local dollar was stable, trading flat against the greenback.
The quake hit just ahead of the start of a fourday holiday in Taiwan observing Qingming, during which families visit the tombs of their ancestors. Thousands of people normally travel to their hometowns over the period.