Powerful earthquake rocks Taiwan, death toll rising, 800 injured
Nine are reported dead and hundreds more injured from the 7.5 magnitude quake
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An earthquake rocked the entire island of Taiwan early Wednesday, killing nine, injuring hundreds, collapsing buildings in a southern city and sparking a brief tsunami warning for southern Japanese islands.
Taiwan's fire department said nine people have died in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien, where the earthquake's epicenter was located. More than 800 people were injured in the incident and authorities lost contact with 50 people aboard four minibuses heading to a hotel in a national park.
At least 26 buildings have collapsed, with more than half in the city of Hualien. Nearly 80 people were trapped as rescue work continued, the government said. Fire authorities said about 60 of the people trapped were caught in a tunnel just north of Hualien city.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An area of a damaged building cordoned off, following an earthquake in Hualien, Taiwan April 3, 2024 in this handout image. Haote Zhang/Handout via REUTERS (Haote Zhang/Handout via REUTERS)
Fire authorities said they were slowly evacuating some of the people trapped in the tunnel.
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A building is seen at an angle after a strong earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday. (TVBS Taiwan via AP)
Video and images on social media showed buildings shaken off their foundations. A five-story building in lightly populated Hualien appeared heavily damaged, collapsing its first floor and leaving the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and within some newer office complexes.
A view of a damaged apartment in New Taipei City, Taiwan April 3, 2024. ( REUTERS/Fabian Hamacher)
The U.S. Geological Survey put the 9.6 mile quake at a 7.4 magnitude, while Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency gave it a magnitude of 7.2. The effects of the earthquake were felt as far away as Kinmen, a Taiwanese-controlled island off the coast of China, said Wu Chien-fu, the head of Taiwan's earthquake monitoring bureau.
Multiple aftershocks were recorded, and the USGS said one of the subsequent quakes measured 6.5 magnitude and 7.8 miles deep.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Firefighters work at the site of a collapsed building in Hualien, April 3, 2024. (Taiwan National Fire Agency/Handout)
A tsunami warning was issued for coastal areas of southwestern Japan's Miyakojima and Yaeyama regions and the main island of Okinawa, Japanese public broadcaster NHK World reported. A tsunami wave about 1 ft. high was detected on the coast of Yonaguni island about 15 minutes after the quake struck, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory before it was lifted.
A view from behind a window as debris falls from a building, during an earthquake just off the eastern coast of Taiwan, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, in New Taipei City, Taiwan, April 3, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Wang/via REUTERS)
Train service across the island of 23 million people was suspended. In Taipei, children were seen going to school and the morning commute appeared normal.
A building nearly on its side following an earthquake in Taiwan. (TVBS)
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center initially said it was reviewing the earthquake to determine whether a tsunami was a threat to the West Coast states of California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Tsunami NOT expected," the agency posted on X minutes later.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency also said there was no tsunami threat to the state.
The quake was believed to be the biggest in Taiwan since a temblor in 1999 caused extensive damage. Taiwan lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.