At least four people died this Wednesday and 57 were injured, according to the latest assessment, made by firefighters, of the earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale that shook the coast of Taiwan.
According to the Taiwan National Fire Department, all the deaths occurred in the Hualien region, the closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, off the east of the island.
Three of the victims died and more than 40 were injured while hiking on the Taroko Dekaron trail in Xiulin township. Another person died after the vehicle he was driving was hit by falling rocks near a road tunnel.
To journalists, the locals told the moment they felt the earthquake: “Everything was shaking very violently.”
Multiple tsunami warnings issued
The earthquake occurred at 09:00 (01:00 in Lisbon), with the epicenter located near Hualien, at a depth of 15.5 kilometers, according to the China Seismological Center.
All tsunami warnings issued in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center have now been withdrawn.
The first tremor was followed by an aftershock measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake caused considerable material damage, especially in Hualien, a city with around 100,000 inhabitants, where at least two residential buildings partially collapsed, leaving people trapped inside.
Taiwanese authorities said 308,242 homes were left without electricity, although power has been restored to around 70% of homes.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan declared the disaster response center level two in Taiwan’s capital and asked citizens to be careful and watch out for possible new aftershocks.
Taiwan’s Nuclear Safety Commission said the island’s nuclear facilities were not damaged.
It was the “strongest earthquake in 25 years” in Taiwan
The earthquake was “the strongest in 25 years” on the island, said the director of the Taiwan Seismological Center, Wu Chien-fu. In September 1999, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed 2,400 people in Taiwan.
In Japan, authorities had asked almost 500,000 people on the islands of Okinawa, Miyakojima and Yaeyama, in the south of the country, to abandon their homes and seek refuge in higher ground.
The tsunami warning also led to the suspension of all flights to and from Naha Airport, on the main island of Okinawa, while passengers at the airport were taken to the upper floors due to the proximity to the coast.
Taiwan is located on the Pacific’s so-called “Ring of Fire,” a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan to the Pacific across South Asia.
Beijing offers support to Taiwan after earthquake
Beijing offered assistance to Taiwan this Wednesday after the earthquake shook the waters east of the island. The spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, China’s executive branch, Zhu Fenglian, expressed “deep concern” about the earthquake, while offering condolences and support to those affected, according to the news agency. Chinese official Xinhua.
Zhu reiterated China’s commitment to humanitarian assistance and its readiness to closely monitor the situation, aiming to “provide the necessary assistance.”
These expressions of support are common in the wake of natural disasters, despite tense relations between the two sides of the Formosa Strait.
Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen offered her condolences and assistance to Beijing following the 2023 earthquake in China’s Gansu province, which claimed the lives of 151 people.
Former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016), who is visiting mainland China, expressed this Wednesday his wish that all those affected “are safe and sound”.
