Rescue workers began searching through and clearing rubble on Wednesday after a 7.4 magnitude quake erupted in the county of Hualien at about 8am and triggered massive landslides.
Emergency crews are beginning to clean up Taiwan's biggest earthquake in at least 25 years which killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 others.
As darkness fell, some people were spending the night in tents and other shelters. The numbers of people missing, trapped or stranded fluctuated as authorities learned of more in trouble and worked to locate or free them. Workers carry out operations at the site where a building collapsed, following the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan on April 4, 2024
Fire authorities said they had already evacuated some 70 people trapped in tunnels near Hualien city, including two Germans. 'The Uranus building behind us is a very badly damaged place. It is a building with one basement level and nine floors above ground. The first and second floors are now underground,' Deputy Acting Chief of Hualien Fire Department Lee Lung-Sheng said.
Workers carry out operations early Thursday morning at the site where a building collapsed on Wednesday, following the earthquake, in Hualien, TaiwanRescue teams are pictured at the site of a collapsed building early Thursday morning following the earthquake that struck overnight Rescue workers are seen by a train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 2, 2024Firefighters on Thursday spray water at the wreckage of a partially collapsed residential building following Wednesday's earthquake
A woman who runs bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Hualien city said she scrambled to calm her guests. A firefighter sprays water on a collapsed building in the early morning of Thursday, April 4, 2024 following the earthquake in Hualien, Taiwan 'I've grown accustomed to . But today was the first time I was scared to tears by an earthquake,' said Hsien-hsuen Keng, a resident who lives in a fifth-floor apartment in Taipei. 'I was awakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense shaking before.'
The initial panic after the earthquake quickly faded on the island, which prepares for such events with drills at schools and notices issued via public media and mobile phone. Emergency services patrol the area after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off Taiwan's eastern coast on the Richter scale, in Hualien, Taiwan
In Japan, the weather agency put the quake's magnitude at 7.7, saying several small tsunami waves reached parts of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, while downgrading its tsunami warning to an advisory. Taiwan's high-speed rail operator said no damage or injuries were reported on its trains, although services would be delayed as it made inspections.
Firefighters spray the water on a collapsed building early Thursday morning following the biggest earthquake in Taiwan in at least 25 years A woman on Thursday morning takes photos of a collapsed building following the earthquake in Hualien, TaiwanFirefighters spray water as excavators demolish the wreckage of a collapsed residential building in Haulien, Taiwan early Thursday morning
Taiwan weather officials ranked Wednesday's quake in Hualien as 'Upper 6', or the second-highest level of intensity on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. People evacuated from their homes sit outside the shelter after the main earthquake in Hualien City early Thursday after strongest earthquake in a quarter-century rocked Taiwan
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