Taiwan's earthquake monitoring agency measured the Wednesday quake at Magnitude 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4. It struck at 7:58 am about 18 km south-southwest of Hualien and was about 35 km (21 miles) deep.
A massive earthquake of over Magnitude 7 hit Taiwan on Wednesday morning, killing nine people, damaging buildings, creating a tsunami and disrupting train service. The earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday is the strongest the country has seen in the last 25 years.
Taiwan's fire department said on Wednesday that seven people died in Hualien County which was the epicenter of the earthquake that struck around 8 am on Wednesday.
Taiwan's worst earthquake in recent years struck on September 21, 1999 with a magnitude of 7.7, causing 2,400 deaths, injuring around 1,00,000 and destroying thousands of buildings.
Taiwan's earthquake monitoring agency measured the Wednesday quake at Magnitude 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4. It struck at 7:58 am about 18 km south-southwest of Hualien and was about 35 km (21 miles) deep.
The earthquake was caught on multiple videos that showed scary scenes that the strong jolts led to. Several multi-storey buildings were damaged or were dangerously tilted and on the verge of collapse in parts of Taiwan after the earthquake.
Another five-story building in lightly populated Hualien appeared heavily damaged, collapsing its first floor and leaving the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.
In the capital, Taipei, tiles were seen falling from older buildings and within some newer office complexes. Hualien was among the worst-hit cities in Taiwan.
In 2018, a deadly earthquake collapsed a historic hotel and other buildings in Hualien.
Many other purported videos have surfaced on the internet, one such claiming to have captured the impact of the earthquake on a busy road through a car dashcam.
Schools evacuated students to sports fields, handing them protective yellow head coverings to guard against falling objects amid continuing aftershocks.
Train service was suspended across the island which houses 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, according to an Associated Press report.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami wave of 30 cm (about 1 feet) was detected on the coast of Yonaguni island about 15 minutes after the earthquake struck. Smaller waves were measured in Ishigaki and Miyako islands.
Japan's Self Defence Forces sent aircraft to collect information about the tsunami impact around the Okinawa region and were preparing shelters for evacuees if necessary, the AP report mentioned.
China issued no tsunami warnings for the Chinese mainland. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the US Pacific territory of Guam.