Taiwan: Scores of people trapped in tunnels and under rubble – after biggest earthquake in 25 years

Published

1 year ago

April 3, 2024

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

World

Helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims crashes in India, killing seven people

Published

3 hours ago

June 15, 2025

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Helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims crashes in India, killing seven people

A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in India, killing seven people on board.

The accident happened within minutes of the helicopter taking off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight.

The helicopter was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

It comes three days after an Air India flight crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, killing at least 270 people.

The helicopter, which was operated by private helicopter service Aryan Aviation, went down in a forested area several miles from the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5.30am local time.

Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions.

Authorities say they have launched a search and rescue operation and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region.

The dead include the pilot and pilgrims from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to officials. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Kedarnath, which is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines, each summer. Many use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain.

Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks.

Earlier this month, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing shortly after taking off on a highway due to a technical fault. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed.

In May, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived.

World

Irish politician faces deportation from Egypt after trying to cross into Gaza

Published

21 hours ago

June 14, 2025

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Irish politician faces deportation from Egypt after trying to cross into Gaza

An Irish politician who was detained in Egypt trying to cross into Gaza says the police were violent towards the group after seizing his phone.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD (MP) Paul Murphy was part of a large demonstration attempting to march to the Rafah crossing in a bid to get aid into the region.

The opposition politician said his phone and passport were confiscated on Friday before he was put on a bus to Cairo airport for deportation.

Israel-Iran live: ‘Tehran will burn’ if it keeps firing missiles

Footage of the seconds before his phone was seized shows authorities forcibly dragging protesters away from the sit-down demonstration.

Ireland’s deputy premier said several Irish citizens who were detained have now been released. Mr Murphy confirmed he was among the released protesters, posting a photo on his Facebook page saying he was back in Cairo and “meeting shortly to decide next steps”.

In a message from Mr Murphy after he was detained, posted online by his social media team, he said: “I’m ok, but they still have my phone.

“Egyptian police say we’re going to airport but this isn’t the road we came on because there are 1000s of marchers on the streets. They’re taking us south past a lake, then west towards Cairo.

“Violence got worse after they seized my phone.

“One American woman in my group was badly kicked & beaten, and had her hijab torn off.”

Sky News has contacted Egypt’s police regarding Mr Murphy’s claims of violence towards the group.

Mr Murphy previously said other Irish citizen were among those who had been stopped from entering Gaza.

“The world has watched a horrific genocide for the past 20 months. Since March, a total attempt of starvation,” he added.

“And that this is a peaceful march to demand that it be ended and demand that western governments stop their complicity.”

Appeal to foreign affairs minister

Mr Murphy’s partner, Councillor Jess Spear, had previously appealed to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy premier Simon Harris to make a public statement on Mr Murphy’s detention.

She expressed “relief” that the group had been released from detention.

She said: “However, they still want to reach Rafah to try and get humanitarian aid into Gaza. That has been the sole purpose of being in Egypt.

“Paul has appealed to Tanaiste Simon Harris to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to let the marchers reach Rafah. The situation of the people of Gaza worsens by the day as they suffer starvation imposed by Israel.”

World

Nuclear threat wasn’t the only reason Israel attacked Iran

Published

22 hours ago

June 14, 2025

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Nuclear threat wasn't the only reason Israel attacked Iran

Why did Israel attack Iran? Certainly, it was worried about the threat of a nuclear weapon being developed.

But it’s also becoming clearer that there was a second reason – that this is about laying the ground for regime change in Tehran.

Follow latest: Israel warns ‘Tehran will burn’ if it continues

Because, hours after his country launched its first, surprise attack, the message from Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t be clearer – Iranians, he said, should overthrow their “evil and oppressive regime”. He said Israel’s attack would “pave the way for you to achieve your freedom”.

On the one hand, he would say that, wouldn’t he? The Iranian government does not recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli state and has called for its destruction, while funding proxy groups that have attacked Israel – including Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.

But perhaps this time there is more than just wishful thinking.

Although it’s very hard to gauge the level of opposition in Iran, it seems likely the majority of the population of 90 million are at least disenchanted with the regime.

Living standards have fallen and supplies are running short. While tens of billions of dollars have been spent on a nuclear programme, electricity is being rationed and cooking gas is running low.

Priority is being given to those who are close to the regime, notably the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian army that is fiercely loyal to the ruling regime.

The IRGC are crucial in propping up Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader. Not only do they offer military power, but also domestic surveillance, intimidation and secret policing in order to stifle dissent.

So for any opposition to emerge, let alone flourish, the IRGC would need to be degraded – and that is precisely what Israel has done, targeting its senior leaders as well as bases.

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The regular army, so far, has been left alone. Israel’s gamble is that a majority of the rest of the military harbour the same dislike of the IRGC as the wider population.

It was no coincidence that Netanyahu quoted the expression “woman, life, freedom”, which was a rallying call during the 2022 protests in Iran – eventually suppressed by the IRGC.

It is very hard to believe that a coherent, public opposition movement will burst into life any time soon. Iranians are well aware their regime will respond with brutality against any attempted uprising.

Instead, dissidents seem to be biding their time and waiting to see if Israel continues its assaults, and whether they can sense genuine signs that the regime is starting to struggle to maintain control. If the cracks emerge, then regime change – or at least an attempt – is possible.

Possible, but not certain. “They will do anything to stay in power, and when other uprisings have happened, they’ve been successfully suppressed,” one Middle East diplomat tells me.

“And there is no unifying leader ready to step in. Even if there is regime change, it could be a military takeover rather than a popular uprising.”

And that leaves one final question – if Khamenei did feel his grip on power was failing, might he still have the time, desire and power to resort to final, desperate military actions? The truth is, we don’t know.

At the moment, the Middle East is a region full of unanswerable, high-risk questions.