Forces of nature in the Pacific
6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Taiwan – super typhoon Nanmadol moves towards Japan
Big waves pounded the shores of Miyazaki in southern Japan as a powerful typhoon that made its way to southern Japan on Sunday battered the region with high winds and heavy rain
© Kyodo News via AP/dpa
Several forces of nature are currently causing unrest in the Pacific: Taiwan was shaken by an earthquake, and people in Japan are preparing for an unusually violent hurricane.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake collapsed several houses and caused other damage in Taiwan on Sunday. The epicenter was 42 kilometers north of Taitung in southeastern Taiwan, authorities said. Houses and roads were badly damaged. A bridge collapsed in Yuli. A landslide blocked a road.
According to media reports, an initially unknown number of people were trapped in a collapsed three-story supermarket in eastern Hualien County. Some responded to calls from emergency services. There was initially no information about other victims. Rail traffic has been temporarily suspended. A train derailed. Elevators in tall buildings stopped.
Japan temporarily issued a tsunami warning for Okinawa and other southern islands. The quake occurred at a depth of only seven kilometers, which made it more intense. It was the second in two days. Earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.4 had already hit Taiwan on Saturday. Several aftershocks followed. The island is particularly prone to earthquakes.
Thousands of people seek safety from typhoon in Japan
Thousands of people have fled to shelters in southwestern Japan to escape devastating typhoon Nanmadol. According to the TV station NHK, more than 15,000 people in the Kyushu region were in rooms that “withstand extreme weather conditions” on Sunday afternoon (local time). The Japanese Meteorological Service (JMA) issued a warning for the towns of Kagoshima and Miyazaki on the southwestern island of Kyushu, authorities asked more than four million residents to evacuate their homes.
Heavy storms and rainfall hit the region on Sunday morning, and almost 98,000 households were reported to be without power. Trains, flights and ferries stopped operating, even grocery stores were closed.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged residents on Twitter to “stay away from dangerous places” and – even in daylight – to get to safety as soon as they “feel the slightest danger”.
The weather service JMA warned of an “unprecedented” danger and a “very dangerous typhoon”. “Extreme caution is required,” said a spokesman. The wind can be so strong that houses collapse. The JMA spokesman also warned of flooding and landslides.
In the gallery: The pictures of the day tell small and big stories from places all over the world.