Taiwan earthquake: nine dead and 900 injured as buildings collapse
Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years has killed nine people and injured at least 900, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides on the island, and triggering initial tsunami warnings in southern Japan and the Philippines. Dozens of people are thought to be trapped and awaiting rescue, including some in a coalmine. The quake, given a magnitude of 7.2 by Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency and 7.4 by the US, struck close to Hualien, a city popular with tourists on Taiwan’s eastern coast, damaging buildings and trapping people amid aftershocks after the quake, which started at 7.58am. Videos on social media showed children being rescued from collapsed residential buildings. One five-storey building in Hualien appeared heavily damaged, its first floor collapsed and the bulk of the building leaning at a 45-degree angle. Taroko national park in Hualien said nearly 1,000 tourists and staff were stranded in its mountains. Local media reported that three hikers and one driver died after rockslides in the park. Taiwan’s Centre for Science and Technology (CST) said people and vehicles were trapped in the Dachingshui tunnel. Train lines were also damaged, and schools and workplaces were closed across large areas of the city. Tens of thousands of homes are without power. Witnesses in Hualien described driving while rocks dislodged from nearby mountains fell down around them, while others rushed outside after feeling the strength of the tremors. Farther north, part of the headland of Guishan Island, a tourist attraction also known as Turtle Island because of its shape, slid into the sea. In the capital, Taipei, several people were rescued from a partially collapsed warehouse, and tiles fell from buildings. Although it was measured at 7.7 in Japan, Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency gave the magnitude of Wednesday’s quake as 7.2, making it Taiwan’s strongest since 1999, when a 7.6-magnitude quake 93 miles (150km) south of Taipei killed 2,400 and injured 10,000. Hualien’s last big quake in 2022, recorded as 6.9 magnitude, toppled buildings and derailed a train, killing one person and cutting off power for thousands of residents. Wednesday’s quake caused TSMC, Taiwan’s leading semiconductor manufacturer, that is responsible for the production of most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, to evacuate its production lines, according to Bloomberg News.