Search for Survivors after Taiwan Hits by Biggest Earthquake in 25 Years

Taiwan has been struck by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years, which measured 7.4 inches magnitude.

Officials have confirmed at least seven people have died, 711 injured in the earthquake; while rescuers are searching for 77 people trapped in collapsed buildings.

Five of the dead – including three hikers on a nearby trail – died from falling rocks.

The epicentre is located about 18 kilometers, South of Taiwan’s Hualien City, according to the US geological survey.

Tremors were felt as far as the capital Taipei, with videos showing buildings shaking violently.

Separately, a truck driver died when his vehicle was hit by a landslide as it approached a tunnel in the area.

Read Also:

Top UN Court Orders Israel to Allow Aid into Gaza

The government put the number of injured at 821.

At present the most important thing, the top priority, is to rescue people, President-elect Lai Ching-te said, speaking outside one of the collapsed buildings in Hualien.

Social media was awash with shared video and images from around the country of buildings swaying as the quake struck.

Dramatic images were shown on local TV of multi-story structures in Hualien and elsewhere tilting after the quake ended, while a warehouse in New Taipei City crumbled.

The mayor there said more than 50 survivors had been successfully plucked from the ruins of the structure.

Local TV channels showed bulldozers clearing rocks along roads to Hualien, a mountain-ringed coastal city of around 100,000 people that has been cut off by landslides.

It was shaking violently, the paintings on the wall, my TV and liquor cabinet fell, one man in Hualien told broadcaster SET TV.