QUAKE ROCKS TAIWAN
9 dead, 900 hurt after 7.4 tremor
TAIWAN was ravaged by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years yesterday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 900.
The tremors in the east coast of the country, rated at 7.4-magnitutude by the United States
Geological Survey, also left 127 people trapped in fallen buildings and collapsed mountain tunnels, with rescuers battling to reach them.
In Hualien, 11 miles north of the epicentre, highrises and offices designed to withstand quakes leaned at precarious angles.
Firefighters struggled to search for survivors amid fears of further collapses, while locals shouted into buildings for signs of people trapped.
CCTV images showed waves rising on a rooftop swimming pool in capital Taipei, 100 miles from the epicentre.
Antoine Rousseaux was at work when his ninth-floor office “started to shake really, really hard”. He said: “It’s not my first earthquake in Taiwan but I’ve never had it that hard. I heard things falling down. I was like, ‘Should I run down the stairs?’ I decided to sit under the table.” At least 77 people were cut off inside the Jinwen and Qingshui tunnels in Hualien during morning rush hour as the remote and mountainous region was rocked by huge landslides.
Many of those trapped were feared to be tourists, including two Germans travelling in the Chongde tunnel in Taroko National Park.
Five of those who died in the quake, including three hikers on a trail, were tragically killed by falling rocks.
Tsunami warnings were also triggered but ocean levels were found to be safe .
President Tsai Ing-wen said: “We will provide timely assistance to those in need, so that people can feel at ease and safe. We are ready to work together.”