Earthquake of over 7 degrees in Taiwan – Images of the disaster

Update 2

At least 26 buildings collapsed, more than half of them in Hualien. About 20 people are trapped under the rubble. Rescue operations are in full swing.

Update: Two buildings collapsed on Wednesday in Hualien, a town located close to the epicenter of the earthquake.

‘Two buildings collapsed and people could be trapped. We don’t have any more information at this time,’ said an official from the Hualien fire service. The tsunami risk has been “largely exceeded”, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a regional observatory in Hawaii, said.

The original news

A strong earthquake shook eastern Taiwan on Wednesday, April 3. A tsunami alert was issued in Okinawa, in the southwest of the Japanese archipelago, but also in the Philippines.

It is about an underwater earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale that occurred near Taiwan on Wednesday, just before 00:00 GMT. Tsunami warnings were issued in Taiwan, but also in the Japanese islands of Okinawa and the Philippines, reports AFP.

Three meter high waves are scary in Okinawa.

“Evacuate to higher ground, don’t come back,” said a presenter at Japanese public broadcaster NHK. A tsunami warning was also issued for coastal areas in Taiwan.

Photo / Video

Photo: Reuters Marketplace

????BREAKING: 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan earthquake
The shaking was so bad that people commuting to work stopped.pic.twitter.com/jNgUZm9pMl

— AJ Huber (@Huberton) https://twitter.com/Huberton/status/1775325620395819288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The earthquake struck near the east coast of Taiwan before 8:00 am local time (9:00 am Japan time, 00:00 GMT).

The magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 7.5 degrees by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), at 7.4 by the US USGS agency and at 7.2 degrees by the Taiwan Meteorological Agency (CWA).

The earthquake is “the strongest in the last 25 years” in Taiwan, said the director of the Seismological Center in Taipei, Wu Chien-fu.

‘The earthquake is close to the coast and shallow. It was felt throughout Taiwan and neighboring islands… It is the strongest in the past 25 years, since the 1999 earthquake,’ Wu told reporters, referring to the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that with the death of 2,400 people in September 1999.

The Philippines also issued warnings of “large tsunami waves” and requested the evacuation of several coastal areas on Wednesday.

“Residents in coastal areas in the following provinces are strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move further inland,” the national seismology institute said in an advisory covering 23 provinces.

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