A strong earthquake struck off Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday morning, killing one person and injuring around 60, Taiwanese authorities said.
The US Geological Survey reports that the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.4, its epicenter was offshore 18 kilometers south of the city of Hualien, and the hypocenter was 34.8 kilometers deep.
After the earthquake, tsunami warnings were issued for Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, which were later withdrawn.
The Japan Meteorological Agency put the earthquake at magnitude 7.5, while the Taiwan Earthquake Monitoring Agency put it at 7.2.
The earthquake collapsed several buildings in the city of Hualien. Train services across Taiwan and subway services in Taipei were temporarily suspended, but the situation in the capital soon returned to normal and traffic resumed.
The earthquake was followed by aftershocks, one of which had a magnitude of 6.5.
TSMC, Taiwan’s largest semiconductor maker, halted production after the earthquake to inspect production lines after workers were evacuated. Production was also stopped by the “Powerchip” company.
Following the earthquake, small tsunamis hit three remote islands in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture. The main airport on the island of Okinawa suspended flights following a tsunami warning.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) previously warned that, “based on preliminary earthquake parameters, (..) dangerous tsunami waves are possible within 300 kilometers of the earthquake’s epicenter”. The service later said the tsunami threat had passed.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes because the island is located near the meeting point of two tectonic plates.
In September 1999, about 2,400 people died in a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan. It was the biggest natural disaster in the island’s history in terms of casualties.
Wu Qianfu, director of the Taipei Seismological Center, told reporters that Wednesday morning’s earthquake was the strongest in 25 years.
