- 7.4 Earthquake in Taiwan, Japan issues tsunami alert.
- Taiwan’s Hualien city is the epicenter.
- Train and other services suspended across the city.
Earthquake in Taiwan Today: A strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan’s east shortly before 8 A.M. local time on 3rd April, Wednesday.
This triggers tsunami warnings for the self-ruled island and parts of southern Japan. The Philippines also issued a tsunami warning and ordered the evacuation of coastal areas after the Taiwan quake. According to Taiwan’s fire department, “Four people are dead by falling rocks in the mountainous (little-populated eastern county of Hualien), which was the epicentre of the earthquake. Fire department further reports that around more than 60 others people get injury.“
“The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s feels all over Taiwan and offshore islands… it’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake,” says Wu Chien-fu. He was referring to the previous comparable event, ‘A devastating 7.6 magnitude Earthquake in September 1999 that killed 2,400 people.‘
The Earthquake in Taiwan today was “the strongest in 25 years”, said the director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre.
Damage From Earthquake in Taiwan
Television footage shows, “A buildings in Taiwan’s eastern city of Hualien being shaken to their foundations, with tremors felt in the capital Taipei.” According to local Taiwanese news, people are trapped in collapsed buildings in Hualien.
Taiwanese Reports, there have been several rockslides and landslides along Taiwan’s eastern coastline. But, the Taipei city government has stated that there have been no reports of major damage from the earthquake.
According to Reuters, the MRT in Taipei City was operational shortly thereafter. They also says that the country’s high-speed rail operator got no damage or injuries to its trains, but that there will be delays while inspections are under operation. Meanwhile, the Southern Taiwan Science Park, where semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has a plant, reported that businesses were unaffected.
(With inputs from Agencies and Reuters) — Stay Updated with Axpert Media for further Update
