Four dead, scores injured as 7.4 magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan

April 3, 2024

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years, killing four people and injuring hundreds.

Taiwan’s government said four people had died in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien near where the epicentre was, with 711 injured.

The fire department said 77 people remained trapped, some in collapsed buildings in Hualien.

Taiwan television stations showed footage of buildings at precarious angles in Hualien, where the quake struck just offshore around 8 am (0000GMT) as people were going to work and school.

The quake was centred just off the east coast at a depth of 15.5km (9.6 miles), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration.

The presidential office said president-elect Lai Ching-te, who takes office next month, would visit Hualien later on Wednesday.

Video showed rescuers using ladders to help people out of windows, while elsewhere, massive landslides caused by the tremors carved down hillsides.

There was also strong shaking felt on Taipei’s subway system, which closed briefly to evacuate passengers though service resumed soon after on most lines.

Japan’s weather agency, which put the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.7, said several small tsunami waves reached parts of the southern prefecture of Okinawa.

Taiwan also issued a tsunami warning but reported no damage from that, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii later said the risk of damaging tsunami waves had passed.

Electricity operator Taipower said most power had been restored, adding that the island’s two nuclear power stations were not affected by the temblor.

Taiwan’s official central news agency said the quake was the biggest to hit the island since 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings in one of Taiwan’s worst-recorded quakes.

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