MAGNITUDE 5.2 TAIWAN REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=438703

Subject To Change

Depth: 40 km

Distances: 160 km SE of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 04:01:38.7 2015-04-26
110 km E of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 04:01:38.7 2015-04-26
56 km SW of Yonakuni, Japan / pop: 1,684 / local time: 05:01:38.7 2015-04-26

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MAGNITUDE 6.6 TAIWAN REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=437636

Subject To Change

Depth: 30 km

Distances: 133 km SE of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 09:42:59.2 2015-04-20
88 km E of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 09:42:59.2 2015-04-20
65 km SW of Yonakuni, Japan / pop: 1,684 / local time: 10:42:59.2 2015-04-20

1.07 MILLION geese killed (more than half of geese population) due to avian flu in Taiwan, China

A total of 674 poultry farms around Taiwan have been hit by avian influenza as of 3 February since the outbreak began in mid-January, according to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine’s latest update on the epidemic.

 

Focus Taiwan reports that the farms confirmed as having been affected by bird flu were among 701 goose, duck and chicken farms that have experienced suspicious animal deaths and have been tested for bird flu inflection.

 

Though the 701 poultry farms that have been tested and the 4.29 million birds they raised account for only a small percentage of Taiwan’s overall poultry industry, the outbreak has dealt a serious blow to the country’s goose farmers.

 

According to the Council of Agriculture, there were 103 million chicken, geese and ducks raised in Taiwan in the fourth quarter of 2014.

 

But of the 2.3 million land and water fowl culled to date at 602 farms to prevent the bird flu outbreak from spreading, 1.07 million of them have been geese, the report said, accounting for more than half of the two million geese raised in the country.

 

The infected farms have been located throughout western Taiwan, spanning Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli counties in the north, Changhua, Yunlin and Nantou counties in central Taiwan, and Chiayi and Pingtung counties and the Tainan and Kaohsiung metropolitan areas in the south, according to Focus Taiwan.

 

The only poultry farm in eastern Taiwan hit by the bird flu outbreak has been a chicken farm in Taitung County, the bureau said, noting that quarantine measures have been tightened to prevent the flu from spreading.

Courtesy of The Poultry Site

http://tinyurl.com/m2d77p2

160,000 birds killed due to avian flu in Taiwan, China

A major outbreak of avian flu in Taiwan has spread to 19 more farms with a total of 160,000 birds slaughtered in the island’s worst bout of the disease in a decade, authorities said Wednesday.

The number of poultry farms infected with the virus has almost doubled since Tuesday, jumping from 21 to 40. More than 10,000 geese have been killed since Tuesday afternoon.

“We have been adopting stringent measures so that we can limit the further spread of the outbreak as soon as possible,” Chang Su-san, head of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, told reporters Wednesday.

She would not specify how many more birds would be slaughtered but said that samples had been taken from another 47 suspect farms where around 340,000 birds are kept.

The outbreak is a new variant of the H5N2 and H5N8 strains of the disease which are not deadly to humans.

Agriculture minister Chen Bao-ji has said he expected the number of infected farms to keep growing and more birds to be culled.

The first outbreak was confirmed at a chicken farm in southern Pingtung county last week then at a goose farm in the northern city of Taoyuan on Tuesday, leading to the slaughter of 1,900 birds.

Most infected farms are in the south, which is home to the majority of the island’s goose and duck farms.

Experts say the outbreak is likely to have been caused by migratory birds bringing the virus onto farms, which have been told to strengthen their nets to prevent contact between poultry and wild birds.

The authorities have adopted stringent measures to stop the outbreak including a ban on transportation of the birds at the suspect farms and a Tw$1 million ($31,250) fine for farmers if caught dumping infected poultry.

Angry farmers have accused the authorities of attempting to cover up the outbreak and being too slow to respond, an allegation they have denied.

Taiwan has reported several outbreaks of H5N2 but has no recorded cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain, although authorities said pet birds smuggled from China tested positive for the strain in 2005 and 2012.

Taiwan authorities in 2004 slaughtered 467,000 birds after H5N2, a less virulent form than the H5N1 strain deadly to humans, was discovered in farm chickens.

Courtesy of The Daily Mail – UK

http://tinyurl.com/5soo

MAGNITUDE 6.2 TAIWAN REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=427222

Subject To Change

Depth: 20 km

Distances: 121 km E of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / pop: 1,519,711 / local time: 04:06:31.5 2015-02-14
38 km E of Taitung City, Taiwan / pop: 110,941 / local time: 04:06:31.5 2015-02-14

Taiwan hit by new type of H5N2, H5N8 for first time

Taiwan’s agriculture authorities confirmed on Sunday that outbreaks of avian influenza at goose farms in southern Taiwan have been caused by two highly pathogenic viruses — H5N8 and a new type of H5N2 — seen for the first time in the country.

 

The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine under the Council of Agriculture said the bird flu outbreaks reported at four goose farms in Yunlin County have been confirmed as being caused by a new strain of the H5N2 virus.

 

The H5N8 infection found in tissue samples from geese raised on a farm in Dalin Township in Chiayi County was identified as an H5N8 subtype similar to the avian flu virus that attacked South Korea in 2014, the bureau noted.

 

“Both of the viruses are new and have never been detected in Taiwan before,” the bureau said in a statement.

 

The conclusions were based on laboratory tests of tissue samples collected from 23 goose farms and one duck egg farm in Taiwan, according to the bureau.

 

Measures have been taken to cull infected fowl, which include 6,000 geese at the four affected farms in Yunlin and more than 1,500 geese raised for breeding at the virus-hit farm in Chiayi, according to local governments.

 

The Chiayi County Agriculture Department said all geese at the goose farm in the county will be culled, and other farms raising fowl with a one-kilometer radius of the infected farm will be required to deliver samples for checks once a month for three straight months.

 

On Sunday, more than 7,000 ducks at a duck egg farm in Wandan Township in Pingtung County were also targeted for culling after suspicions that the farm had been hit by the H5N2 virus were confirmed.

 

Meanwhile, a goose farm in Tainan reported suspicious deaths Saturday, when 100 of over 800 geese from the farm died as they were being transported to a slaughterhouse in Pingtung County.

 

Lee Chao-chuan, head of the Tainan City Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office, confirmed the deaths Sunday, saying samples of dead geese have been sent for laboratory checks.

 

“The situation is not yet clear at the moment,” Lee said.

 

Centers of Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang said the agency has subjected 83 poultry farm operators and quarantine personnel to simple health checks as a precaution, though experts at the agency judged that the H5N2 virus would not be transmitted from fowl to humans.

 

There has not been a single case of H5N8 infection among humans anywhere in the world, Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji said Sunday.

 

H5N8 is a virus existing in wild birds and mainly transmitted to ducks and geese, according to health experts.

 

Local authorities suspect that both the H5N8 and new H5N2 viruses were brought to Taiwan by migratory birds.

 

Because avian flu viruses can be eliminated during the cooking process at a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius and over, people are advised to cook chicken eggs or poultry well before eating them.

Courtesy of Focus Taiwan News Channel

http://tinyurl.com/my8hmo8

MAGNITUDE 5.1 TAIWAN

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=418183

Subject To Change

Depth: 30 km

Distances: 93 km S of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 12:48:32.8 2015-01-07
34 km NE of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 12:48:32.8 2015-01-07

MAGNITUDE 5.1 TAIWAN REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=415648

Subject To Change

Depth: 96 km

Distances: 118 km E of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 15:54:36.1 2014-12-31
89 km E of Yilan, Taiwan / pop: 94,188 / local time: 15:54:36.1 2014-12-31
45 km NW of Yonakuni, Japan / pop: 1,684 / local time: 16:54:36.1 2014-12-31

MAGNITUDE 5.0 BABUYAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=409312

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 330 km S of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / pop: 1,519,711 / local time: 20:14:46.3 2014-11-18
260 km NW of Tuguegarao City, Philippines / pop: 115,105 / local time: 20:14:46.3 2014-11-18
206 km NW of Buguey, Philippines / pop: 3,111 / local time: 20:14:46.3 2014-11-18
130 km N of Davila, Philippines / pop: 3,465 / local time: 20:14:46.3 2014-11-18

MAGNITUDE 5.2 BABUYAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=409281

Subject To Change

Depth: 30 km

Distances: 351 km S of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / pop: 1,519,711 / local time: 17:15:57.3 2014-11-18
242 km NW of Tuguegarao City, Philippines / pop: 115,105 / local time: 17:15:57.3 2014-11-18
191 km NW of Buguey, Philippines / pop: 3,111 / local time: 17:15:57.3 2014-11-18
109 km N of Davila, Philippines / pop: 3,465 / local time: 17:15:57.3 2014-11-18