Taiwan survivors recall harrowing moments of terror

HUALIEN, TAIWAN Taiwan residents endured harrowing experiences on Wednesday when the ground shook with the strongest earthquake to hit the island in 25 years. People saw rocks tumble onto roadways, watched parts of their homes fall around them and waited for rescuers to free them from rubble.

The historic quake killed at least 12 people and injured more than 1,000. Several hundred people remained stranded after vital highways were damaged and the walls of some structures cracked.

The quake's epicenter was just off the coast of eastern Hualien County, a rural area known for tourism and rice paddy fields, but also the site of frequent earthquakes and tsunamis.

Taiwan's earthquake monitoring agency said the quake was 7.2 magnitude while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.4.

These are the recollections shared by some survivors of the disaster: earthquakes.

“Every year, we'd go up there to work, and when we go up, there would be some rocks falling down but in a localized fashion,” he said. “This time, the entire thing fell down, and though the window was shut, the rocks fell so much they cracked the windows.”

`TV fell down'

Huang Hsiao-en, a Hualien resident and college student, said she had just woken up and was about to leave home.

“When I came out I felt the shake and thought I still haven't woken up,” she said.

“At first it started shaking from right to left, and then it started shaking from bottom to top. The TV fell down, all the things that could fall, all fell down. The glass from the TV cabinet, and the bowls and plates in the kitchen cabinet all fell down.”

“I'm still a bit anxious, how could there be such a severe earthquake?”