5.6 Magnitude Quake Shakes Buildings in Taiwan, Series of Temblors Hit the Island

Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
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5.6 Magnitude Quake Shakes Buildings in Taiwan, Series of Temblors Hit the Island

Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Shoppers crowd for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook buildings in Taiwan on Thursday morning, as a series of temblors hit the island, causing little damage but possibly portending more seismic activity in the near future.
The biggest of the quakes hit at 10:11 a.m. (0211 GMT) in Chiayi county’s Dapu township at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the Central Weather Agency and the U. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the capital, Taipei, where buildings swayed slightly, The Associated Press reported.
That was followed shortly afterward by at least a dozen smaller quakes in Dapu. No damage or casualties were immediately reported.
All were aftershocks from a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck Dapu on Jan. 21 and sent 15 people to the hospital with minor injuries and damaged buildings and a highway bridge.
Last April, a magnitude 7.4 quake hit the island’s mountainous eastern coastal county of Hualien, killing at least 13 people, injuring more than 1,000 others, collapsing a hotel and forcing the closure of Toroko National Park. That was the strongest earthquake in 25 years and was followed by hundreds of aftershocks.
Taiwan is going through a period of increased seismic activity that could lead to further aftershocks or new quakes, according to the CWA and earthquake experts.
Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean from Chile to New Zealand where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The 1999 magnitude 7.7 quake killed 2,415 people, damaged buildings around the island of 23 million people and led to tightened building codes, better response times and coordination and widespread public education campaigns on earthquake safety.
Schools and workplaces hold earthquake drills, while cellphones buzz whenever a strong earthquake is detected.



Vance Criticizes Germany’s Free Speech Laws in Remarks to Conservatives

 Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
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Vance Criticizes Germany’s Free Speech Laws in Remarks to Conservatives

 Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)

US Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany's free speech laws during an appearance at a conservative gathering outside Washington, linking the country's limits against hate speech to American troops stationed there.

German law sets restrictions on free speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial and any glorification of the country's Nazi past.

The limits are an effort to curb extremism and incitement, and have led to authorities policing the internet for hate speech and arresting the people allegedly posting, and reposting, such comments.

“There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they’re not,” Vance told activists gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

There are nearly 84,000 US service members in the European Theater, according to the US Department of Defense. The figure fluctuates, however, and has increased since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on Feb. 24, 2022.

The US military is stationed throughout Germany, according to US European Command, including at Ramstein Air Base. A count of US service members in Germany wasn't immediately available on Friday.

Vance's remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent. His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Obviously we’re going to continue to have important alliances with Europe,” Vance told CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp. “But I really do think the strength of those alliances is doing to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.”

Vance then claimed that “Germany’s entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayers.”