This was confirmed by the island’s national fire authority on Wednesday.

In addition, numerous buildings suffered catastrophic damage.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Taiwan on Wednesday, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA), triggering a small tsunami which reached some islands in south-western Japan.

The quake struck at 7:58 am (2358 GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 15.5 kilometres.

The epicentre was about 25 kilometres south-east of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, the CWA said.

It was followed by several strong aftershocks including one of 6.5 magnitude.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.4.

Some buildings in Hualien were severely damaged by the violent tremors, local media reported.

In New Taipei city, which surrounds the capital in the island’s north, a warehouse collapsed injuring three people, several media outlets reported.

Damage was also reported in other parts of the island.

According to eyewitnesses, the quake was also clearly felt in Taipei.

Public rail transport was cancelled in several major cities on the island with a population of more than 23 million.

Express train services were also interrupted.

Taiwan’s major semiconductor manufacturer TSMC halted production, according to the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, as did Powerchip.

According to reports, TSMC was checking the condition of its production line after evacuating workers during the earthquake.

The official Nuclear Safety Commission (NUSC) issued a notice at 8:22 am stating that the Maanshan nuclear power plant in southern Pingtung County continued to operate normally after the shock.

A small tsunami reached the nearby Japanese islands of Yonaguni, Ishigaki and Miyako in Okinawa Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological agency said, as it warned of the possibility of larger tsunami of up to one metre.

The US National Weather Service earlier had warned that “based on the preliminary earthquake parameters… hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 km of the earthquake epicenter.”

Around 0200 GMT it issued a notice saying the tsunami threat had passed.

In September 1999, the earthquake-prone Taiwan island, which sits on the boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Philippine Sea plate, was hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that left more than 2,400 people dead.

Source: dpa/NAN

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It said it would carry out random sampling to that effect.

NAFDAC director, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known in a statement, stating that the director of the Food Lab Services Directorate had been engaged and has started working on the methodology for the analysis.

“Indomie noodles have been banned from being imported into the country for many years. It is one of the foods on the government prohibition list. It is not allowed in Nigeria, and therefore not registered by NAFDAC.

“What we are doing is an extra caution to ensure that the product is not smuggled in, and if so, our post-marketing surveillance would detect it. We also want to be sure that the spices used for the Indomie and other noodles in Nigeria are tested.

“That is what NAFDAC Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FSAN, and Post Marketing Surveillance, PMS, are doing this week at the production facilities and in the market, respectively.”

She said the outcome of the investigation being carried out would be made public.

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Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation centre says rescuers are struggling to access four carriages inside the tunnel that are “badly damaged”.

More than 72 people are injured said Reuters, quoting the local transport ministry.

The accident occurred at the start of the annual Tomb Sweeping festival, a typically high traffic period.

Pictures online showed people in unaffected carriages walking along train tracks with their belongings.

“It felt like there was a sudden violent jolt and I found myself falling to the floor,” an unidentified female survivor told Taiwan’s UDN.

“We broke the window to climb to the roof of the train to get out.”

According to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, a number of people still remain trapped inside the train.

“Emergency rescue mechanisms have been put in place for the sick and injured. Rescuing those trapped is our highest priority now.”

Many of those on the train are believed to be tourists celebrating the Tomb Sweeping festival – a time when people visit the graves of friends and family, sprucing them up and making offerings to their spirits.

People typically travel during this time to pay their respects to the dead.

Reuters quoting the fire department, said that up to 100 people were evacuated from four of the train’s carriages.

“An accident occurred this morning at a tunnel in Hualien,” said Ms Tsai.

Friday’s crash appears to be one of Taiwan’s worst accidents in decades.

The last major train derailment in Taiwan was in 2018, which left 18 people dead.

The island’s worst crash in recent history was in 1991, when 30 passengers were killed and 112 injured after two trains collided.

Source: BBC

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The court revoked Article 239 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, which stipulated that a “married person who commits adultery with another shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year; the other party to the adultery shall be subject to the same punishment.”

Hsu Tzong-li, president of the Judicial Yuan, the judicial branch of Taiwan’s government, said the law had been nullified because it seriously undermined personal sexual autonomy and privacy.

“After the decriminalisation of adultery, people can rely on the Civil Code to protect family and marriage,’’ Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hui-huang told a news conference in Taipei.

The court also nullified an article in the criminal code stating that in an adultery case, the withdrawal of a complaint against a spouse shall not be considered to be a withdrawal against the other adulterer.

Friday’s ruling was handed down several weeks after oral arguments, which saw the Ministry of Justice cite a number of surveys showing that 70 per cent of the population opposes the decriminalisation of adultery.

Kuan Hsiao-wei, an associate professor of Law at National Taipei University, called Friday’s ruling  a “milestone in the history of sexual rights and human rights in Taiwan.”

She said that the adultery law had been implemented in a gendered way, with women roughly 20 per cent more likely to be convicted than men, even though men commit adultery more often.

The criminal adultery law was deemed constitutional in a 2002 ruling .

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said Taiwan had become more inclusive during that time in respecting personal freedom and sexual autonomy.

Tseng Hsien-ying, president of the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation, said that the ruling would harm the institution of marriage, state-run Central News Agency reported

Source: dpa/NAN

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