CNA file photo

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The country's national defense system continued to operate normally despite a power outage that impacted large swathes of Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon, due to the existence of a back-up power supply system, according to Ministry of National Defense Spokesman Maj. Gen. Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉).

Chen said all organizations under the MND have their own back-up power systems so the sudden outage had zero impact on national defense operations.

Chen said the public could rest at ease that Taiwan's national defenses remained fully functional and able to deal with any and all adversaries.

An operational technical error at Tatan Power Plant in Taoyuan's Guanyin District occurred at 4:52 p.m. Tuesday, resulting in the shut down of its six generators, reducing power supply by 4 million kilowatts. The plant is Taiwan's biggest natural gas power plant.

The areas hit by the power outage included greater Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Miaoli, Nantou, Chiayi and other counties, impacting 6.68 million households.

(By Lu Hsin-hui and Frances Huang) Enditem/AW