Taiwan earthquake: Strongest in 25 years leaves destruction, tsunami warning

TAIWAN: A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday at 7:58 a.m. Taipei time, killing four people, and injuring more than 50 people in the eastern city of Hualien.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) revised the magnitude to 7.7 from 7.5. Earlier, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration put the magnitude at 7.2.

The strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years sparked a tsunami warning for southern Japan and the Philippines that was later lifted.

At least 26 buildings have collapsed, more than half in Hualien, the city closest to the epicenter, with about 20 people trapped and rescue work ongoing, Taiwan’s government said. According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, the quake had a depth of 15.5km (9.6 miles).

Director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre, Wu Chien Fu said,” The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands… It’s the strongest in 25 years.”

According to the experts, aftershocks could still be felt in Taipei, with more than 25 aftershocks registered, Taiwan’s central weather administrations said. The Taipei city government said it had not received any reports of major damage and the city’s metro was up and running soon after the tremor.

Damage to buildings in the hilly Xindian district of New Taipei City [CNA via AFP]

Internet outages and internet cuts have been reported across the island, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. State-owned electricity provider Taipower said more than 87,000 households in Taiwan were still without power, adding that the country’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.

A view of a landslide after an earthquake hit, a mountainous area of Xiulin, Taiwan. [Tutuloveeatg/Reuters]

Japan, Philippines fear tsunami after 7.2 earthquake

Japan issued an evacuation advisory for the coastal areas of Okinawa after a powerful earthquake that hit Taiwan triggered a tsunami warning. Japan Meteorological Agency in their advisory feared tsunami waves of up to 3 meters.

Japan’s weather agency reported several small tsunami waves reached parts of Okinawa, and later downgraded the earlier tsunami warning to an advisory.

The Philippines Seismology Agency also issued a warning for residents in coastal areas of several provinces, urging them to evacuate to higher ground. 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.