Four people perished in Hualien County and at least 57 were injured in the earthquake that occurred just before eight in the morning, according to Taiwan’s national fire service. Three trekkers lost their lives in rockslides at Taroko National Park close to the offshore epicenter, according to the local United Daily News.
A five-story Hualien building that had collapsed its first level and was tilting the remaining floors 45 degrees appeared to have sustained significant damage. Tiles from more recent office buildings in Taipei’s capital city as well as trash from certain construction sites fell. Students were evacuated from schools and placed on athletic fields while wearing yellow safety helmets. As the aftershocks persisted, some people covered themselves with textbooks to protect themselves from falling debris.
Throughout the 23 million-person island, train service was interrupted. In Taipei, a recently built above-ground line partially separated. The walls and ceilings of the national legislative, a pre-World War II school that was remodeled, were also damaged.
With landslides and falling debris impacting tunnels and highways in the mountainous area, traffic along the east coast came to a virtual halt. Vehicles were damaged by those, but it wasn’t immediately apparent if anyone was wounded.
Even though the earthquake happened right before 8 a.m. at the busiest part of the morning rush hour, the island, which is prone to earthquakes and regularly exercises drills at schools and posts alerts on social media and cell phones, saw its first shock pass swiftly.
Authorities indicated that they did not issue any alerts because they had only anticipated a very little earthquake of magnitude 4.
Even still, even accustomed to such shaking were startled by the magnitude of the earthquake.
Since earthquakes frequently occur, I’ve become accustomed to them. But this was the first time an earthquake had startled me so much that I started crying,” Hsien-hsuen Keng, a native of Taipei, said. The earthquake startled me awake. I had never experienced such severe trembling before.
“Apart from earthquake drills in elementary school, this was the first time I had experienced such a situation,” the woman claimed, describing how violently her fifth-floor flat shook.
The last significant earthquake to hit Hualien was in 2018, bringing down a historic hotel along with other structures. With a magnitude of 7.7, the largest earthquake to hit Taiwan in recent memory occurred on September 21, 1999, leaving thousands of buildings destroyed, 2,400 people dead, and around 100,000 injured.
About fifteen minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami wave of thirty centimeters, or roughly one foot, was spotted off the shore of Yonaguni island, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. In the islands of Miyako and Ishigaki, smaller waves were measured. Japan dispatched military planes to collect data regarding the effects in the Okinawa area.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 7.4, whereas Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency reported a value of 7.2. It struck roughly 35 kilometers (21 miles) deep and 18 kilometers (11.1 miles) south-southwest of Hualien. There were several aftershocks, one of which the USGS reported was 6.5 in magnitude and 11.8 km (7 miles) deep. Surface damage is typically greater in shallower earthquakes.
Chinese media said that the earthquake was felt in Shanghai as well as in a number of provinces along China’s southeast coast. Taiwan and China are located roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) apart. There were no tsunami alerts issued by China for the Chinese mainland.
Jimu News, an online publication, stated that residents of the Chinese province of Fujian had experienced strong shaking. A man reported to Jimu that he was woken by a one-minute earthquake.
Three hours after the earthquake, inhabitants in the northern Philippines were ordered to evacuate to higher ground, although there was no significant tsunami reported.
According to Teresito Bacolcol of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, villagers in the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, and Isabela were instructed to stay away from their houses until the tsunami alarm was canceled.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, stated that there have been no reports of damage or injuries in Japan. He advised everyone living in the Okinawa region to remain on high ground until the tsunami warnings are completely removed. He advised people to avoid false information, maintain composure, and help others.
Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in the Pacific were not at danger from tsunamis, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. It stated that the threat had mostly gone for all places about three hours after the earthquake, with waves only being detected in Taiwan and southern Japan.
Taiwan is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a chain of seismic faults that encircles the Pacific Ocean and is the epicenter of the majority of earthquakes worldwide.
