The official Taipei organization initially indicated that four people had died, but the number of fatalities increased to seven in the last hour.
At first, the authorities in Taiwan (Republic of China) reported that there were around 60 injured, but the provisional toll was updated to 711, without specifying the severity of the injuries.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit the island in the last 25 years, occurred at 09:00 (01:00 in Lisbon), with the epicenter located near Hualien, at a depth of 15.5 kilometers, indicated the China Seismological Center.
The first indications were that the four deaths occurred in the Hualien region, close to the epicenter of the earthquake in the east of the island of Taiwan.
Three of these four victims died on a hiking trail and the fourth in a road tunnel.
Details about the circumstances surrounding the remaining three fatalities are not yet known.
The magnitude of the underwater earthquake was further estimated at 7.5 by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), 7.4 by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and 7.2 by the Taiwan Meteorological Agency (CWA).
PSP // SB
