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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century rocked the island during the morning rush hour Wednesday, damaging buildings and highways, leaving at least seven people dead and triggering tsunami warnings for Japan and the Philippines that were later lifted.
Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency said the temblor struck just before 8:00 a.m. local time and gave the magnitude as 7.2, while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.4. It hit offshore, about 11.1 miles south-southwest of the east coast county of Hualien and was about 21 miles deep. Multiple aftershocks followed, and the USGS said one had a magnitude of 6.5 and was 7 miles deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more surface damage.
Taiwan’s national fire agency said more than 700 people were hurt and 77 were trapped, Reuters reported.
The fire agency said all the deaths occurred in the mountainous, sparsely populated Hualien region, according to Agency France-Presse.
The local United Daily News reported three hikers died in rockslides in Taroko National Park, near the epicenter. And AFP said a truck driver died when his vehicle was hit by a landslide.
A five-story building in Hualien appeared heavily damaged, with its first floor collapsed and the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.
In the capital Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and in some newer office complexes and debris fell from some building sites. Schools evacuated their students to sports fields, equipping them with yellow safety helmets. Some students also covered themselves with textbooks to guard against falling objects as aftershocks continued.
Train service was suspended across the island of 23 million people, as was subway service in Taipei, where a newly constructed above-ground line partially separated. The national legislature, a converted school built before World War II, also had damage to walls and ceilings.
Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways in the mountainous region.
Social media were filled with shared video and images of buildings around the country swaying as the quake struck.
Despite the quake hitting at the height of the morning rush hour, the initial panic faded quickly on the island, which is regularly rocked by temblors and prepares for them with drills at schools and notices issued via public media and mobile phone.
Authorities said they’d only expected a relatively mild quake of magnitude 4 and accordingly didn’t send out alerts.
Residents react
Still, the quake was strong enough to scare people who are used to such shaking.
“Earthquakes are a common occurrence, and I’ve grown accustomed to them. But today was the first time I was scared to tears by an earthquake,” Taipei resident Hsien-hsuen Keng said. “I was awakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense shaking before.”
She said her fifth-floor apartment shook so hard that “apart from earthquake drills in elementary school, this was the first time I had experienced such a situation.”
Kelvin Hwang, a guest at a hotel in Taipei, told AFP he “wanted to run out, but I wasn’t dressed. That was so strong,” so he sought shelter in the elevator lobby on the ninth floor.
Hualien was last struck by a deadly quake in 2018. It collapsed a historic hotel and other buildings.
Taiwan’s worst recent quake struck on Sept. 21, 1999, with a magnitude of 7.7, causing 2,400 deaths, injuring around 100,000 and destroying thousands of buildings.
Tsunamis concern fades
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. About three hours after the earthquake, it said the threat had largely passed for all areas, with waves being reported only in Taiwan and southern Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami wave of about a foot was detected on the coast of Yonaguni island about 15 minutes after the quake struck. Smaller waves were measured in Ishigaki and Miyako islands. Japan sent military aircraft to gather information about the impact around the Okinawa region, where many U.S. troops are stationed.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there hadn’t been any reports of injury or damage there. He urged the residents in the Okinawa region to stay on high ground until all tsunami advisories are lifted. He cautioned people against disinformation and urged them to stay calm and assist others.
The earthquake was felt in Shanghai and several provinces along China’s southeastern coast, according to Chinese media. China and Taiwan are about 100 miles apart. China issued no tsunami warnings for the Chinese mainland.
Residents of China’s Fujian province reported violent shaking, according to Jimu News, an online outlet. One man told Jimu the shaking awakened him and lasted about a minute.
In the Philippines, residents along the northern coast were told to evacuate to higher ground, but no major tsunami was reported about three hours after the quake.
Villagers in the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte and Isabela were asked not to return to their homes until the tsunami alert was lifted, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
