Taiwan: Scores of people trapped in tunnels and under rubble – after biggest earthquake in 25 years
Taiwan has been struck by its strongest earthquake in 25 years – causing buildings to collapse and widespread power outages.
Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency said Wednesday morning’s quake was magnitude 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4 and Japan’s meteorological agency put it at 7.7.
Nine people have died and 821 have been injured after the quake struck in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County during morning rush hour at 7.58am local time (12.58am UK time).
Officials have been working to free 127 people who were trapped in the county. Of those, 77 were underground in Dachingshui and Jinwen tunnels and 50 were passengers of four minibuses in downtown Hualien.
Yu-chang Lin, the interior minister of Taiwan, has said the 77 people have been reached and contacted by the island’s highway bureau.
He added that a rescue operation was under way and all of those trapped were expected to be evacuated before 6pm local time (11am UK time). It is not year clear if the rescue operation has been completed.
Meanwhile, authorities said they had lost contact with those trapped in the minibus.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Taiwan earthquake triggers landslide
Rescue workers stand near the site of a leaning building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Hualien, eastern Taiwan.
Pic: AP
The epicentre of the initial earthquake was about 11 miles southwest of Hualien and about 22 miles deep.
A five-storey building in Hualien was heavily damaged. The first floor collapsed, leaving the rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.
Traffic along the east coast was brought to a virtual standstill, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways in the mountainous region.
Rocks and clouds of dust have also been seen crashing down from mountainous regions with roads and buildings situated below.
Meanwhile, buildings have been seen balanced precariously at odd angles after the initial quake.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Moment earthquake hits Taiwan
Footage from inside a news studio has shown lights swinging around on the ceiling as the room shakes. A news presenter is seen steadying herself by holding onto a screen as she appears to report on what is happening.
Other footage shows a man in a rooftop swimming pool as the earthquake causes the water to sway from side to side.
In the capital Taipei, in the north of the island, tiles fell from the roofs of older buildings and within some newer office complexes.
Meanwhile, more than 87,000 households in Taiwan were without power, according to the island’s electricity supplier.
Train services across Taiwan – which is home to 23 million people – were suspended, as was the metro.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Taiwan’s strongest quake since 1999
Firefighters work at the site where a building collapsed in Hualien. Pic:Taiwan’s National Fire Agency/Reuters
Firefighters work at the site of a collapsed building in Hualien.
Pic: Taiwan’s National Fire Agency/Reuters
The national legislature in Taipei, a converted school built before the Second World War, also had damage to walls and ceilings.
Schools evacuated their students to sports fields, equipping them with yellow safety helmets.
Some also covered themselves with textbooks to guard against falling objects as aftershocks continued.
Pic: TVBS
Emily Feng, a correspondent with National Public Radio in Taiwan, told Sky News: “In Taipei my building has been swaying for the past couple of hours, there’s still aftershocks, the last one was just a few minutes ago.
“People are relatively used to earthquakes because Taiwan lies right on a major geographical fault line.
“There are earthquakes basically every month or so… this of course was a quake on a much larger scale.
“But people remained relatively calm because they are used to these sorts of natural disasters.”
She added that authorities are now looking at how to get aid into Hualien and also why an emergency alert system did not go off across the island.
Ms Feng added: “Some people got texts telling them the earthquake was coming. The majority of people, including myself, did not.
“Authorities are trying to figure out why that malfunctioned.”
Meanwhile, Taipei resident Hsien-hsuen Keng said: “Earthquakes are a common occurrence, and I’ve grown accustomed to them. But today was the first time I was scared to tears by an earthquake. I was awakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense shaking before.”
She said her fifth-floor apartment shook so hard that “apart from earthquake drills in elementary school, this was the first time I had experienced such a situation”.
A view of a damaged flat in Taiwan. Pic: Reuters
The earthquake led to a small tsunami in some coastal areas of Japan, but warnings were later lifted.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said his country stands ready to support Taiwan following the quake.
Japan’s meteorological agency described the earthquake as very shallow, which can cause greater damage.
The agency also said people “must be vigilant” for aftershocks, which could be of similar intensity for about a week.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there has been no report of injury or damage in Japan.
He urged residents in the Okinawa region to stay on high ground until all tsunami advisories were lifted.
Pic: Reuters
The Philippines Seismology Agency also issued urged residents in coastal areas of several provinces to evacuate to higher ground.
Chinese media confirmed the earthquake was felt in Shanghai and several provinces along China’s south-eastern coast.
China and Taiwan are about 100 miles apart. China issued no tsunami warnings for the Chinese mainland.
A landslide occurred as a result of the earthquake in Taiwan. Pic: Tutuloveeat
Multiple aftershocks were felt in Taipei in the hour after the initial quake. The US Geological Society said one of the subsequent tremors was seven miles deep and had a magnitude of 6.5.
Taiwan lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a line of seismic faults where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Taiwan’s worst quake in recent years struck in 1999, with a magnitude of 7.7, causing 2,400 deaths, injuring around 100,000 and destroying thousands of buildings.
In March 2011, a 9 magnitude earthquake was the strongest in Japan’s history – triggering a massive tsunami and the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024