Taiwan was struck by the largest earthquake in 25 years in the early hours of Wednesday morning, collapsing buildings and triggering landslides, killing several and leaving tens of dozens missing.
Among the missing, per reports, is a party of 50 travellers on their way to a rural hotel in a national park. The group was travelling in four minibuses and apparently haven’t been heard from. Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te told press the present priority is searching for survivors.
The epicentre of the quake is thought to be underneath the small city of Hualien on the Pacific-facing east coast. The 100,000-resident city is approximately 75 miles south of Taipei, the capital of the Republic of China, Taiwan. Despite the distance some damage is clear in the capital, including to the Taipei metro railway system.
As well as damaged buildings, including one apparently steel-framed building that appears to have toppled very nearly over onto its side, those in the countryside have also suffered from landslides. Taiwanese officials say five of those known killed by the earthquake were struck by falling rocks, and three of those were hiking on a nature trail in Hualien province.
Over 800 are reported to have been injured. Tsunami warnings were issued but later retracted. The earthquake has been measured as the strongest to have hit Taiwan since 1999 which killed 2,411 people and caused widespread power outages. The high death toll was blamed partly on poor quality of building construction, with a 2000 report claiming two thirds of fatalities had been in buildings which weren’t signed off by an engineer. Higher quality of building since the traumatic 1999 quake may account in part for a comparatively low death toll today from an earthquake of comparable power.
As noted by Britain’s BBC, China has been fast to offer aid to Taiwan, but Taiwan has turned down the suggested assistance from Beijing, which claims all of Taiwan as its own territory and is frequently discussed as a Russia-Ukraine style invasion risk.
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