A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.4 shook the island of Taiwan on Wednesday, according to the United States Seismological Survey (USGS).
Taiwan's seismological agency reported a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
The USGS reported that several aftershocks occurred, including one that measured 6.5 to 7 miles (11.8 kilometers) deep.
This image taken from a TVBS video shows the partial collapse of a building on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Hualien, eastern Taiwan. Associated Press
According to the agency, the earthquake occurred off the eastern coast of Taiwan at approximately
21 miles (35 kilometers) deep
shortly before 8 am (local time).
The Japan Meteorological Agency predicted a tsunami of up to 3 meters (10 feet) after the earthquake. About half an hour later, he reported that the first wave of the tsunami was presumed to have reached the coasts of the islands of Miyako and Yaeyama.
Taiwanese television showed some collapsed buildings in the eastern city of Hualien. The earthquake was also felt in the capital, Taipei.
The island of Taiwan.Google Maps
A five-story building in sparsely populated Hualien was severely damaged, with its first floor collapsing. The building was tilted at an angle of 45 degrees. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings and some newer office complexes.
Train service throughout the island of 23 million inhabitants was suspended, as was subway service in Taipei. But
life quickly returned to normal in the capital
, with children going to school and morning commutes seemingly normal.
The head of Taiwan's earthquake control office, Wu Chien-fu, said the effects of the quake had been detected as far away as Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled island off the Chinese coast. In the hour after the initial movement, multiple aftershocks were felt in Taipei.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that
there is no tsunami threat for Hawaii or the US
Pacific territory of Guam.
Taiwan is frequently shaken by earthquakes. The island is located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, the line of seismic faults that surrounds that ocean and where most of the world's earthquakes occur.
A 6.2 earthquake near Hualien in 2018 claimed the lives of at least 17 people and injured more than 300. In 1999, the largest earthquake to hit the island left 2,400 people dead.
About 300,000 people live
in Hualien
.
In southwestern Taiwan, although not as strong as in the capital of Taipei, aftershocks of at least magnitude 5 were still being felt at 9 a.m. local time, "almost every minute," Steve Henin, a U.S. citizen, told Noticias Telemundo. who lives in Taiwan since 2021.
"It was enough to wake me up," said Henin, who lives in the city of Kaohsiung. "It lasted more than a minute and kept getting louder. If you're in Taipei or Hualien, they told me you couldn't even walk because it was so loud. Luckily Taiwan has strong building codes (not as strong as Japan)." .
With information from
The Associated Press
and
CNN