Taiwan, 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake on the 18th Afternoon... 73 Aftershocks
6.1 Magnitude Earthquake Also in Japan
'Ring of Fire' 50-Year Cycle Theory Resurfaces
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Juri] As strong earthquakes continue to occur in Taiwan and Japan, which are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, anxiety about a major earthquake is rising. With increased seismic activity shaking the "Ring of Fire," there are concerns that a large-scale earthquake may occur soon.
In eastern Taiwan, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck around 2:44 PM local time on the 18th, causing widespread damage.
In the Hualien area, a three-story building with a convenience store on the first floor collapsed, the ceiling of a train station platform fell causing six train cars to derail, and two bridges along with parts of an elementary school building were destroyed.
Due to the earthquake, the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center (TWC) issued a tsunami warning for Taiwan, and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture and the Yaeyama region.
Japan also experienced consecutive earthquakes. At 5:10 PM, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred 178 km west of Okinawa, followed by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake at 7:05 PM, 179 km west of Okinawa.
The exact number of casualties from the successive earthquakes is not yet confirmed.
The sequence began with a magnitude 6.4 earthquake around 10:41 PM on the 17th, located 100 km northeast of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. By 7 PM on the same day, four additional earthquakes ranging from magnitude 5 to 6 had occurred. Dozens of aftershocks also shook Taiwan.
Taiwan and Japan, where these earthquakes occurred, are part of the so-called "Ring of Fire." The "Ring of Fire" is a horseshoe-shaped seismic belt that starts from Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina, runs along the western Andes Mountains of Chile, the west coast of the United States, the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea, and continues through Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
It contains 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes and is where seven tectonic plates meet, causing intense crustal movements. Approximately 80-90% of the world's earthquakes occur in this region.
The frequent earthquakes in the "Ring of Fire" occur because the collision zones where tectonic plates meet are densely concentrated along the Pacific coast.
Countries such as Ecuador, which experienced a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 2016, and El Salvador, which had a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, are all located within the "Ring of Fire." These earthquakes caused hundreds of buildings to be damaged and thousands of casualties.
There is also a hypothesis that strong earthquakes in the Ring of Fire region repeat every 50 years. Known as the "50-year cycle theory," this hypothesis was formed after a series of massive earthquakes occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by extensive seismic activity starting December 26, 2004, with about six consecutive events.
Meanwhile, on the 18th, Chen Guochang, head of Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau Earthquake Prediction Center, explained that there were 73 foreshocks before the magnitude 6.8 mainshock occurred. He added that while it is impossible to confirm future aftershocks, there is a possibility that larger aftershocks could follow the mainshock.
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