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At least four persons reported died and about sixty were injured on Wednesday morning by a powerful earthquake in Taiwan, Taiwan officials said.
Also, dozens of buildings were said to be destroyed following the quake.
Officials said the quake and series of strong aftershocks were the strongest to shake the island in decades and warned of more tremors in the days ahead.
“The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands,” said the director of Taipei’s Central Weather Administration’s Seismology Centre, Wu Chien-fu.
Strict building regulations and disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe for the island, which is regularly hit by earthquakes as it lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.
Wu said the quake was the strongest since one of 7.6-magnitude struck in September 1999, killing around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.
Wednesday’s magnitude-7.4 quake struck just before 8:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT), with the United States Geological Survey putting the epicentre 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of Taiwan’s Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 kilometres.
“I wanted to run out, but I wasn’t dressed. That was so strong,” said Kelvin Hwang, a guest at a hotel in the capital, Taipei, who sought shelter in the lift lobby on the ninth floor.”
The Central Emergency Operations Center said one person on a hiking trail was suspected to have been crushed to death by a dislodged boulder, adding nearly 60 people had been treated for quake-related injuries.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, while nearby Japan experiences around 1,500 jolts every year.
