Taiwan has a huge earthquake, any idea what this will mean for the semi equip sector? Anyone have any news on how the foundries and other chip makers fared? Looks bad for a lot of people, I just hope and pray that it has not shook up their economy too much.
dailynews.yahoo.com
Powerful Taiwan Quake Kills More Than 400
By Alice Hung
TAIPEI (Reuters) - More than 400 people were killed as a giant earthquake rocked Taiwan Tuesday, and officials feared the toll could rise dramatically since at least 1,000 were trapped in collapsed buildings.
State television reported 402 dead, and more than 2,100 people trapped or injured.
A wine factory in central Taiwan, where the earthquake was centered, exploded and a 12-storey concrete apartment and hotel complex in downtown Taipei collapsed like a concertina, trapping more than 100 people.
``The death toll continues to rise and we continue to discover more people being trapped in the collapsed buildings,' a spokesman at the government's disaster center told Reuters by telephone.
``It is still very difficult to estimate the extent of the damage,' the spokesman said.
State television said some 1,000 people were trapped or buried under debris.
The earthquake measured 7.6 on the open-ended Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Taiwan's weather bureau recorded the intensity at 7.3 and said the earthquake was believed to be the strongest ever to hit Taiwan.
The earthquake in Turkey last month which killed more than 15,000 people measured 7.3 on the scale.
Most of Taiwan was asleep when the earthquake struck at 1.47 a.m. (1747 GMT Monday), with its epicenter 12.5 km (7.8 miles) west of Taiwan's central county of Nantou, a seismically active area.
More than 200 aftershocks -- some with an intensity of 4.5 on the Richter scale -- were recorded, and the tremors cut off electricity in most part of the island.
President Lee Teng-hui urged people to stay calm and reassured the public the government had mobilized all its resources to handle the disaster.
The stock and currency markets were ordered to close Tuesday.
President Clinton said he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton ``were saddened by news of injuries and deaths sustained by the people on Taiwan as a result of a major earthquake today.'
He said the United States was ``in touch directly with the Taiwan authorities to determine what assistance' may be needed. Television showed people crying for help from the wreckage of fallen buildings in Taipei. Other victims, semi-naked or wearing pajamas, were guided down ladders to safety by rescuers.
``I was in the middle of sleep and the ceiling suddenly fell from the sky,' said 27-year-old Lin Hung-yi, who lived in the collapsed 12-storey apartment complex in Taipei.
Rescuers carried an injured child and old women to safety through mangled wreckage of concrete and metal, with water streaming from pipes.
Shocked victims could be seen clinging to the balconies of what had been their homes.
``I ran out after the quake, but my mother is still trapped inside,' said high-school student Chiang Hung-han in tears.
Stuart Koyanagi of the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, told CNN that a tsunami or tidal wave warning had been issued by Taiwan authorities.
``This is similar to the quake in Turkey. But we still don't know how deep below the surface the earthquake was,' he said.
``We estimate this is a major earthquake. We only record five to ten such quakes a year. Quakes like this can kill dozens of people and collapse a lot of buildings.'
Taipei was plunged into darkness by the power cut, and nervous citizens gathered in the streets, which were being patrolled by police cars.
The tremors hurled computers from desks and books from shelves but most of the capital's buildings appeared mostly unscathed, witnesses said.
Michael Armstrong, a guest in the Taipei Hyatt Hotel, said he was woken up by the quake.
``I was fast asleep and the violent shaking woke me up. the shaking seemed to go on for about 30 seconds. After the main quake the hotel seemed to keep shaking,' he told CNN. |
