Death toll rising in strong Taiwan quake
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck off the coast of Taiwan yesterday, killing four people, injuring dozens and triggering a tsunami warning in Japan that forced thousands of people to evacuate urgently.
Taiwanese media reported that people were trapped inside at least 26 collapsed buildings in the eastern city of Hualien.
Of the rising death toll, the local fire department said at least one person was suspected to have been crushed to death by falling rocks in the mountainous, sparsely populated county where the epicentre was. More than 50 people were injured.
Television images showed homes and offices in Hualien shaken off their foundations, while Taiwan’s electricity operator said 87,000 people across the country were without power.
Initial images showed a heavily damaged five-storey building in Hualien. Its ground floor had collapsed, leaving it leaning at a 45-degree angle.
The strong earthquake – which struck at 7.58am local time yesterday and was felt as far away as Shanghai, China – was reported locally to have triggered a landslide in eastern Taiwan, though this had not been confirmed by The Telegraph.
It is Taiwan’s most powerful earthquake in 25 years, according to officials.
The quake caused a tsunami, which had been predicted to be up to 3 metres high and was expected to reach Japan’s southwestern Okinawa coast.
An alert was issued for the coastal areas of Japan near the prefecture of Okinawa, with residents told to leave urgently.
The waves that arrived were not as high as forecast, and the alert was downgraded to an advisory, though officials were still encouraging locals to stay away.
A tsunami of about 0.3 metres reached Yonaguni Island, in south-west Japan.
A banner on Japanese national broadcaster NHK had told viewers to “Evacuate!”
“Tsunami is coming. Please evacuate immediately,” an anchor said. “Do not stop. Do not go back.”
The Philippines also issued a tsunami alert to residents on its northern coast, warning 23 provinces that “high tsunami waves” were expected.
Japan’s meteorological agency described the earthquake as being very shallow, which can cause significant damage. It was measured at a magnitude of about 7.2 but this was later revised to 7.4.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake’s epicentre was 18km south of Taiwan’s Hualien City.
Live TV footage from Japan’s Okinawa region’s ports, including Naha, showed vessels heading out to sea, possibly in efforts to protect their ships. Flights were also suspended at Naha airport in Okinawa.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes because the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates. The earthquake was “the strongest in 25 years”, according to Wu Chien-fu, the director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre. referring to a 7.6-magnitude quake that hit Taiwan in September 1999, killing around 2400 people.
In the capital of Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and within some newer office complexes during an aftershock.
The world’s largest producer of advanced chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, evacuated some factory areas.
Train services were initially suspended across the island of 23 million people, as was Taipei’s subway service. But things soon returned to normal in the capital, with children going to school and the morning commute appearing normal. – Telegraph Group