A strong earthquake in eastern Japan and a powerful explosion and subsequent fire in Taiwan woke up rescue services in Asia in the early hours of the weekend. The incidents caused extensive property damage and required the emergency evacuation of dozens of citizens in the affected areas.
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook Tokyo
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale shook eastern Japan, including the capital Tokyo, at around 02:00 local time on Sunday. According to the official report of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), quoted in a report by Mainichi Japan (https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260823/p2g/00m/0na/001000c), the epicenter was in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture at a depth of 68 kilometers. The disaster did not cause a tsunami threat, but caused minor injuries to at least five people in neighboring prefectures, and subsequently the number of victims of secondary incidents throughout the Kanto region exceeded 20 people.
The country's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced on the social network X that a crisis headquarters at the Cabinet Office had been immediately established to assess the damage. The earthquake caused a power outage in about 460 households in Tokyo and led to the rupture of a large underground water pipe in the eastern Koto area. Rail services in the Tokyo area and Narita Airport were severely delayed, while bullet trains Shinkansen continued to operate as scheduled, East Japan Railway Company (JR East) said. There were no reported anomalies in the country's nuclear power plants.
Fire and explosion in Taiwan injure 15 people
In parallel with the disaster in Japan, the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan was the scene of a massive industrial fire and subsequent explosions. The local fire department received a call at 01:12 about burning industrial waste in an empty lot on Haidian Street in Annan District. The fire quickly escalated and caused a series of powerful explosions that injured 15 people, reports the authoritative Taipei Times (https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2026/08/23/2003862967).
The Tainan Fire Department sent 53 specialized vehicles and 144 firefighters to the scene. The blast wave caused serious damage to 68 nearby houses and destroyed 22 vehicles, including an ambulance and six fire engines. Among the injured were three firefighters and 12 civilians, mostly with minor burns and abrasions. The emergency evacuation of 36 residents to crisis centers was necessary. A preliminary investigation by authorities found that aluminum-magnesium alloys and waste oils were illegally stored at the site, which reacted when water was used to extinguish the fire and led to the secondary explosion.