TAIPEI - Authorities in Taiwan have ordered markets, businesses and schools to close on Friday as a super typhoon approaches the island, forcing flight cancellations and landslide warnings shortly after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck.
"An earthquake struck when we are making preparations for the typhoon, which is a rare event," premier Su Tseng-chang told a meeting at a national emergency centre, urging officials to stay on alert for its approach. Taiwan's weather bureau issued wind and rain warnings for greater Taipei, the northern port city of Keelung and other northern counties. It also put out a warning to seafarers off the south and east coasts.
The storm will continue towards China, approaching the eastern commercial hub of Shanghai over the weekend, the weather bureau said.