Nine Dead As Biggest Quake In 25 Years Rocks Taiwan

Violent shaking causes extensive damage to infrastructure

- ALISHA RAHAMAN SARKAR

At least nine people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in 25 years rocked the island during the morning rush hour, prompting authorities to issue tsunami warnings. Thirty-eight workers on their way to a hotel in a national park are still missing

Massive landslides were triggered and buildings were left tilting at precarious angles after the 7.2-magnitude quake struck just offshore at about 8am local time yesterday.

Videos showed people experiencing violent shaking across Taiwan and there was extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. Multiple buildings in Hualien, a relatively sparsely populated city popular with tourists, appeared heavily damaged, with photographs showing nine-storey buildings leaning at a 45-degree angle.

At least 77 people were trapped in buildings or under the debris of partially collapsed structures, the Taiwanese government said yesterday afternoon. A dozen people were rescued from a building in New Taipei City after its foundations sank deep into the ground.

"Today was the first time I was scared to tears by an earthquake," a Taipei resident, who was sleeping in her fifth-floor apartment," told the Associated Press. "I was awakened by the earthquake. I had never felt such intense shaking before."

The quake was the largest to hit Taiwan since one in 1999 killed around 2,400 people and caused extensive damage.