No Taiwanese Reported Injured After Strong Kumamoto Earthquake: MOFA

Taipei: Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday that no Taiwanese nationals had been reported injured or otherwise affected following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Japan's southwestern Kumamoto Prefecture earlier in the day. According to Focus Taiwan, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the earthquake occurred at 4:27 p.m. local time at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had convened an emergency response team to assess the damage and coordinate disaster relief efforts. Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that the quake had caused at least 12 houses to collapse and left at least 50 people injured. In response to the earthquake, MOFA said its representative office in Fukuoka, which is responsible for consular affairs in Kumamoto Prefecture, immediately contacted Taiwanese nationals known to be in the affected area. According to the ministry, all those contacted reported they were safe, and the office had not re ceived any requests for emergency assistance from Taiwanese citizens in Kumamoto. MOFA urged Taiwanese in Kumamoto who require assistance to contact the Fukuoka office's emergency hotline at +81-90-1922-9740. The ministry also said it had informed the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association's Taipei office -- the de facto Japanese embassy in Taiwan -- that Taiwan stood ready to assist Japan with post-disaster relief efforts if needed.