Taiwan Today

Taiwan’s first undersea seismological sensing station is scheduled to go into operation in 2011 at the earliest, accelerating earthquake warnings, according to officials Nov. 15. Central Weather Bureau Director-General Shin Tzay-chyn said the station, scheduled to commence construction next March, will not only expand Taiwan’s earthquake network to the offshore area, enlarging the measurement zone, but with an earthquake rapid-reporting system will buy response time that will help reduce disaster damages. Shin said the station will be built 45 kilometers southeast of Yilan County’s Toucheng Township, at 2,000-3,000 meters below the surface, with earthquake and tsunami-sensing equipment. “At the time of the Sept. 21, 1999 quake, the CWB received the temblor data only 102 seconds after the fact. Ten years later, the report time has been shortened to 30 seconds. When the undersea station is in operation, the epicenter and magnitude will be known within 10 seconds,” he added. “Knowing within 10 seconds that an earthquake has occurred could save many lives, and reduce economic losses,” Shin said. As an example, when there is a major shock, the news can immediately be sent to financial institutions, the high-speed rail and mass rapid transit systems, so responses such as train stoppages and other emergency measures can be taken even earlier. If a tsunami threatens land areas, the government will be able to issue warnings and evacuate the public 10 minutes sooner. There are now over 800 seismological sensing stations around Taiwan. After 1997 earthquake rapid-reporting systems were instituted, with 109 stations now having RRS capabilities. Shin said, “Taiwan’s topography is long and narrow, and at the moment seismic stations are all on land. However, among the 15,000 to 18,000 felt and unfelt temblors that take place every year, 70 percent occur off the east coast. Though stations on land can detect offshore earthquakes, it takes longer. The purpose of the undersea station is to make up for this lack.” Kuo Kai-wen, director of the CWB’s Seismology Center, said Japan has more undersea seismic stations than any other country, with eight undersea cables and 24 stations. The United States and Canada have cooperated to establish undersea sensing stations in the Pacific to detect seismic activity in the Circum-Pacific seismic zone, the area of the world with the most temblors. Shin said the establishment of the underwater station is a three-year plan. The original plan called for an underwater cable of 200 kilometers with four stations along it. In 2007 when the budget was proposed it got stuck in the Legislature, so none of the U.S., Canadian or Japanese businesses capable of laying the undersea cable was willing to bid on the project at the time. The NT$400 million (US$12.44 million) budget did not get approved until this year, with Japan’s NEC Corp. winning the contract. With major changes going on globally, according to Kuo, if Taiwan could set up a number of undersea stations, they would supply earthquake data as well as information on ocean water temperatures and currents. Such data could help put Taiwan among the world’s leaders in global environmental research. (THN)