Taipei - Hundreds of thousands of earthworms appeared in a Taiwan vineyard, prompting the owner to consult an expert out of fear that a strong earthquake might be coming soon, a newspaper said on Monday. According to the China Times, the worms crawled out of the earth and covered the surface of Wu Ching-chuan's vineyard in Changhwa County, west Taiwan, Sunday morning.
Wu, who bought the vineyard 40 years ago, said he has never seen so many earthworms in his vineyard before and estimated there were 200 to 300 kilograms of them.
Seeing the large numbers of earthworms Wu feared that a major quake might be coming because worms and snakes are known to come to the surface when disturbed by seismic activity.
Wu consulted a farm expert who said the earthworms crawled out because his vineyards were flooded when Typhoon Krosa hit Taiwan on October 5.
Although earthworms like humid environment, they cannot stand extreme moisture or when the underground water level rises too high, so they came out of the earth, the expert told Wu.
Wu's worry about an upcoming strong earthquake eased when it was pointed out that another vineyard near Hu's house has not been invaded by earthworms because it was not flooded during the typhoon's passage.
