2024-04-03T07:40:16+00:00
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/ Authorities in Taiwan reported today, Wednesday, that 4 people were killed and dozens injured as a result of an earthquake described as the most violent and powerful to have struck the island in a quarter of a century, with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
Authorities in Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines issued tsunami warnings before they were later lifted.
Earlier, the Taiwan Fire Department said that a person was suspected of being crushed to death by falling rocks in the sparsely populated mountainous province of Hualien in the east of the country, where the epicenter was, and more than 50 people were injured.
It was reported that at least 26 buildings collapsed, more than half of them in Hualien, and that about 20 people were trapped while rescue work was still continuing, according to Reuters.
Taiwanese television stations showed footage of buildings leaning heavily in Hualien County, where the quake occurred off the beach at about 8 a.m. local time, i.e. 12:00 midnight GMT, while people were on their way to work and school.
The Central Weather Administration in Taiwan said that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 15.5 kilometers off the island’s eastern coast.
The official Taiwan Central News Agency said that this is the strongest earthquake to hit the island since 1999, when the last earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 killed about 2,400 people and completely or partially destroyed 50,000 buildings in one of the worst earthquakes recorded in Taiwan.
In Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said that small “tsunami” waves had reached parts of southern Okinawa Prefecture, and later reduced the previous tsunami warning to an advisory, and revised the earthquake’s strength to 7.7 degrees.
A Reuters witness said aftershocks could still be felt in Taipei, where the Central Meteorological Administration has recorded at least 25 tremors so far.
Japan issued evacuation orders for coastal areas near the southern prefecture of Okinawa after the earthquake, on Wednesday, led to a tsunami warning being issued.
The agency said that waves 30 centimeters high reached Yonaguni Island at 9:18 a.m. local time.
The Philippine Seismological Agency also issued a warning to residents in coastal areas in several provinces, urging them to evacuate to higher areas.