UPDATE 13:50 More than 100 buildings in the capital of Taipei, but also in the neighboring areas, collapsed, and the authorities fear that the number of victims trapped under the rubble would be in the tens. Authorities have now confirmed that 127 people are stranded as a result of the earthquake.
UPDATE 13:00 A surveillance camera captured the moment when the earthquake shook the financial district of the capital Taipei. Other cameras filmed a landslide in the mountainous region of Hualien and customers fleeing a restaurant in terror. Footage also emerged of the moment the earthquake shook a pet store in New Taipei City. A five-story building in Hualien was heavily damaged, with the first floor collapsing and the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle, according to the AP.
UPDATE 12:20 The Taiwanese government has reported that the death toll has reached nine, following the devastating earthquake.
UPDATE 10:00 At least seven people died in the 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan, the most violent in 25 years, and at least 700 people were injured. At least two buildings collapsed, AP and AFP report. After the earthquake, more than 100 aftershocks were recorded, writes the BBC.
The strongest earthquake in the last 25 years
A major earthquake was registered on Wednesday morning in the east of Taiwan, and a tsnuami alert was issued in Okinawa, in the southwest of the Japanese archipelago, but also in the Philippines. The earthquake occurred at 07:58 am local time (2:58 am, Romanian time), at a depth of 15.5 km, just off the east coast, according to the local Meteorological Administration. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the island in the last 25 years. Several people are trapped under the rubble, and 9 people were injured on a highway.
All flights to Japan’s Naha airport on the island of Okinawa have been diverted following a tsunami warning, an airport spokesman told CNN on Wednesday. All employees and staff were evacuated to the third floor to await the impact of the tsunami, Hideaki Tsurudo said, adding that no waves had reached the airport during the time the alert was issued.
And the Philippines issued a tsunami alert on Wednesday for coastal areas in the Pacific Ocean, saying they expected to face “strong tsunami waves”. The population in coastal areas in several provinces were advised to evacuate immediately to higher ground or move further inland, reports The Guardian.
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The earthquake, felt in China
The earthquake was also felt in Shanghai, in China, a witness told Reuters. Chinese state media said it was also felt in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou and Ningde in China’s Fujian province.
So far, the Taipei city administration has not received any damage reports. Taiwan’s high-speed rail operator said no damage or injuries were reported, but said trains would be delayed as inspections were required.
According to The Guardian, images shown on television show collapsed buildings in the city of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast. There would also be people trapped in the rubble.
It’s been just four months since a 7.6-magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami killed 244 people and caused extensive damage in the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, on the coast of the Sea of Japan.
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On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast of Japan was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and a massive tsunami. These events triggered the world’s worst civilian nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl disaster a quarter of a century earlier. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Taiwan in September 1999, killing an estimated 2,400 people in the worst natural disaster in the island’s history.
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