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A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday off Taiwan, killing nine people, injuring hundreds and collapsing buildings in the island's most powerful tremor in at least 25 years.Update April 10
The quake happened around 8 a.m. local time (8 p.m. Tuesday ET) at a depth of about 21 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was about 11 miles south-southwest of Hualien City on the island's east coast.
At least nine people died and 882 people were injured, Taiwan's fire department said. Officials said the number of casualties could rise in the coming days.
The earthquake also prompted tsunami warnings that were later lifted in Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.
Annie Lima, an American who has lived in Taiwan for almost 17 years and arrived in Hualien to visit friends on Tuesday, said she was still feeling aftershocks in the afternoon, hours after the initial quake.
"It was pretty scary," she told NBC News in an interview. "In all the years that I've lived here and in Southern California before that I've felt a lot of earthquakes, but this was by far the strongest and the most frightening."
When things started toppling, Lima said, she and her husband jumped to their feet and ran for the nearest doorway.
"Even there in a doorway on the second floor, we could barely keep our balance, you know, holding both sides of the doorway," she said. "And all around us things were falling off the walls and off shelves, smashing and crashing everywhere."
The damage was concentrated in the eastern Taiwan county of Hualien, near the quake's epicenter, where officials said they were working to free 131 people who were trapped.
Video on social media showed a building in Hualien that appeared to be nine stories tall partially collapsed and left standing at an angle. Another, appearing to have five floors, was similarly situated.
The toll from a massive earthquake that struck Taiwan last week rose to 16 on Wednesday after three more bodies were recovered on a hiking trail, officials said.Earthquake Track reported an aftershock of magnitude 6.4 about 13 minutes later.
The magnitude 7.4 quake that hit the island on April 3 also left more than 1,100 people injured, with strict building codes and widespread disaster readiness credited with averting an even bigger catastrophe.
Authorities discovered the three victims Wednesday as they worked to retrieve two other bodies buried under the rocks along the Shakadang Trail in eastern Taiwan's Hualien county, the quake's epicenter.
The new fatalities brought the toll from the quake to 16, according to the National Fire Agency. Three people remain missing.
Legend has it that a frog placed in a shallow pot of water heating on a stove will remain happily in the pot of water as the temperature continues to climb, and will not jump out even as the water slowly reaches the boiling point and kills the frog. The change of one degree of temperature at a time is so gradual that the frog doesn't realize he is being boiled until it is too late.While the story is an apologue - a pretty fable meant to convey a meaningful lesson - it is one frequently invoked by militaries and geopoliticians to describe the "long game" of reaching strategic objectives.
🇫🇷🇺🇦 FRANCE - UKRAINE
The French Foreign Legion getting ready to deploy in Ukraine - Documentary Eng subtitles.
According to http://Southfront.press, one of the best media on contemporary conflicts, French military leaders have already begun training combat units to send to the Ukrainian front.
At the end of February, President Macron instructed the Ministry of the Armed Forces to study the question of sending French Foreign Legion forces to Ukraine.
On February 27, 2024, by order of the Legion command, the formation of three companies of Legion fighters began.
On March 5, 2024, the French military command and Legion command approved the personnel numbers of the battalion tactical group, which is expected to include 1,500 military personnel. This battalion tactical group contains three Legion companies, which were assigned for this purpose in advance.
These are :
- a material support company;
- two engineering companies.
- The battalion tactical group should also include: up to 6 companies of motorized and armored infantry as well as the operational team.
The French command failed to assure the number of declared personnel of the battalion tactical group to the members of the Legion.
The assumed ratio of members of the Foreign Legion to regular military personnel of the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the battalion tactical group is approximately 1:2.
During the first half of March, the battalion tactical group began combat coordination at the Courtine training camp in the "Creuse" region of France.
March 8 to 14, 2024, the 2nd regiment of the Foreign Legion based in Nîmes was reported preparing for a large-scale exercise throughout the "Creuse" region of France. 800 legionnaires and their 120 vehicles were trained in the countryside and the streets of the quiet town of "Guéret" including 40 armoured vehicles.
The staff was tasked with completing combat coordination by mid-April. Personnel should wait for the order and be ready to be sent to the front in Ukraine.
The deployment of the group to Ukraine could take place in the second half of April as suggested by the Russian MFA press secretary Mari Zakharova
Documentary of the exercise from Objective Gard: 2nd Foreign Infantry (foreign legion) Regiment of Nîmes for full-scale training at the Courtine camp (Creuse).
Comment: CBS reports on the US travel advisory: New Arab for Russia: Hindustan Times for India: Some worthwhile commentary on the possible Iran response below. What isn't considered, however, is the slim possibility of the looming Iran response being hijacked with some kind of false flag: