Taipei – Taiwan braced for approaching super typhoon Meranti on Tuesday, evacuating nearly 1,800 tourists from offshore islands and closing some schools and offices.

Meranti is expected to skirt past the island’s southern tip, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds from late Tuesday, the Central Weather Bureau said.

“Typhoon Meranti is maintaining its strength and speed, and its impact will be the strongest on Wednesday and early Thursday,” said forecaster Hung Jen-sheng.

The super typhoon will likely dampen celebrations and disrupt traffic during the four-day Mid-autumn Festival holiday period starting Thursday, a major holiday in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.

Authorities have evacuated nearly 1,800 visitors from the popular tourist spots of Green Island and Orchid Island and suspended ferry services to the two destinations Tuesday and Wednesday, local officials said.

Offices and schools were shut down in Orchid Island from Tuesday afternoon while the defence ministry said it had ordered around 33,000 soldiers to be on standby.

Three people were killed and hundreds were injured when super typhoon Nepartak pounded Taiwan in July with the strongest winds in over a century.

Eleven-year-old Gao Zhiyu lost both his legs in a car accident in 2012, but he is determined to live his life to the fullest.

He had been trying to reach the summit of Lao Mountain, the birthplace of Taoism, in Qingdao, Qingdao Evening News reported.

He was joined on his first attempt on Saturday to climb to the top of the 1,133m-high mountain by Mr Chen Zhou, who shares a similar situation. The 33-year-old lost his legs in a train accident when he was 13.

The two began their climb at 9.30am on Saturday, but by 3.30pm Gao had to admit defeat because of severe blisters on his hands.

He got as far as 900m up – using wooden boxes held in his hands as “shoes” as he climbed the route made of stone steps – before giving up, reported South China Morning Post.

“Next time, I must make it to the top,” the Qingdao boy told Qingdao Evening News.

Mr Chen, a self-help lecturer who has climbed to the top of more than 100 mountains, including Mount Tai and Mount Huang, said it was a shame that Gao did not make it to the summit.

“I don’t think he is trying to conquer nature, or other people. All the challenges he takes on are just to conquer his own fears about his limitations,” he said.

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Reuters

This article was first published on Sep 13, 2016.
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SEOUL – Two earthquakes that jolted South Korea on Monday night, including the largest ever recorded in the country, prompted concerns about the safety of nuclear plants clustered in the quake-prone southeast.

Korea’s Meteorological Agency said the two earthquakes, of magnitude of 5.1 and 5.8, occurred near the city of Gyeongju. They could be felt in the capital Seoul, over 300 km (186 miles) to the northwest.

Fourteen people were injured but there were no reports of serious damage, a Ministry of Public Safety and Security official said.

Nonetheless, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co shut down four nuclear reactors at the Wolsong complex in Gyeongju as a precaution.

South Korea’s reactors are designed to withstand a magnitude 6.5 or 7.0 earthquake, according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

Orders were given to nuclear operators to upgrade old reactors to that standard after the disaster at Japan’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. “That will be completed by next year,” said Shim Eun-jung, a spokeswoman at the nuclear watchdog.

South Korea’s 25 reactors supply about one-third of its electricity and make it the world’s fifth-largest user of nuclear power. It plans to add 9 more nuclear plants by 2027, according to the nuclear watchdog.

As in many countries, nuclear power is controversial in South Korea, especially after a 2012 scandal over parts being supplied with fake certificates prompted shutdowns.

Park Jong-kwon, head of an anti-nuclear civic group in South Gyeongsang Province, said no more nuclear reactors should be built in southeastern cities like Ulsan and Gyeongju as they are close to an active fault line.

“Even though nuclear reactors are designed to withstand an earthquake of a magnitude 7.0, if they are hit by 4.5 and 5.8 magnitude earthquakes several times, they can be knocked down by a real 7.0 magnitude earthquake at a single blow,” Park said.

About 70 percent of South Korea’s nuclear reactors are in the southeast, partly to locate them further away from North Korea, with which the country remains technically at war.

Greenpeace Korea filed a lawsuit against the nuclear watchdog on Monday, before the earthquakes, urging it to scrap a plan to add two more reactors in Ulsan.

Koreans living near the nuclear power plant in Gyeongju city also voiced anxiety. “When I heard the news, the first thing that came to my mind was that a Fukushima-like accident could happen,” Byun Woo-hee, a 59-year-old professor, said.