Horrifying visuals | Strongest earthquake of 7.7 magnitude hits Taiwan since 1999, Japan issues tsunami alert

Taipei, April 3: A strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan's east around 8 am local time on Wednesday, April 3, prompting tsunami warnings for the self-ruled island as well as parts of southern Japan. The Philippines also issued a tsunami warning and ordered the evacuation of coastal areas after the Taiwan quake.
At least 26 buildings have collapsed, more than half in Hualien, with about 20 people trapped and rescue work ongoing, it said. Taiwan's national fire agency confirmed four fatalities in Hualien County, with at least 57 others sustaining injuries from the quake that occurred shortly before 8 a.m.

The earthquake that hit Taiwan's east was “the strongest in 25 years”, said the director of Taipei's Seismology Centre. "The earthquake is close to land and it's shallow. It's felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands... it's the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake," Wu Chien-fu told reporters, referring to a September 1999 quake with 7.6-magnitude that killed 2,400 people.




Taiwan’s official central news agency said the quake was the biggest to hit the island since 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings in one of Taiwan’s worst-recorded quakes. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said the earthquake registered the second-highest intensity of an “Upper 6” in Hualien county, on the 1-7 intensity scale.