Taiwan was rocked Wednesday morning by the strongest earthquake in 25 years, causing deaths and damage to roads and buildings, Taiwanese media reported.
The local United Daily News reported that three tourists were killed in rockslides in Taroko National Park, located near the quake’s epicentre. Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said four people were killed in Hualien County and at least 57 injured in the quake that struck just before 8 a.m. The ground floor of a five-storey building in the city reportedly collapsed and the rest of the building tilted at a 45-degree angle. In one of the hardest-hit buildings, 22 people were rescued and only one was missing, the fire service said.
In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, shingles fell from old buildings and in some new office complexes.
Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency gave the magnitude as 7.2, while the US Geological Survey said it was 7.4. The tremors occurred about 11 miles south-southwest of Hualien and were about 21 miles deep.
Videos posted on social media showed rescuers using ladders to help people out of windows, while elsewhere, huge landslides triggered by the tremors destroyed hillsides.
Japan’s meteorological agency said several small tsunami waves had reached areas in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, then downgraded an earlier tsunami warning to an advisory. The Philippines’ seismological agency also issued a warning for coastal residents in several provinces, urging them to evacuate to higher ground.
Taiwan also issued a tsunami warning but reported no damage, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii later said the risk of destructive tsunami waves had passed.
