7.5 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan triggers tsunami warning in Japan

Buildings collapsed in Taiwan after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 struck on Wednesday morning, triggering a tsunami warning in southern Japan.

Television footage showed buildings collapsing in the city of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast, with reports of people trapped inside amid continuing aftershocks.

A five-story building in Hualien appeared heavily damaged, with the first floor collapsing and leaving the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and some newer office complexes.

The earthquake was the strongest in Taiwan since 1999, when a magnitude 7.7 quake 150 kilometers south of Taipei killed 2,400 people and injured 10,000.

The head of Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring department, Wu Chien-fu, said the effects had been detected as far away as Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled island off the coast of China. Several aftershocks were felt in Taipei within an hour of the initial earthquake.

Japanese media said the 7.5 magnitude earthquake could trigger waves up to three meters high in some areas of Okinawa Prefecture, located about 1,600 kilometers south of Tokyo. Broadcaster NHK said an initial 30cm tsunami hit the coast of Yonaguni, a remote island just 110km from Taiwan, but warned that higher waves could occur.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.4, with an epicenter 18 km (11 miles) south of the city of Hualien in Taiwan, at a depth of 34.8 km. Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency gave it a magnitude of 7.2.

The Philippines’ seismology agency on Wednesday issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean, saying they were expected to experience “strong tsunami waves.” People in coastal areas of several provinces were advised to immediately evacuate to higher ground or move inland.

“Boat owners in ports, estuaries or shallow coastal waters of the above-mentioned provinces should secure their boats and move away from the port area,” it said in a statement. “Boats already at sea during this period should remain at sea in deep water until further notice.”

Announcers on Japanese public broadcaster NHK urged people not to go near the coast and to evacuate to higher ground, as warnings in English and Japanese appeared on screen.

A magnitude 7.6 shock hit Taiwan in September 1999, killing about 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.

It has been just four months since a 7.6 magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed 244 people and caused widespread damage on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan.

The largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan was a massive 9.0 magnitude underwater quake in March 2011 off the northeast coast of Japan that triggered a tsunami that left about 18,500 people dead or missing.

This is a breaking story and we will bring you more as it develops.

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