6.9-magnitude earthquake strikes Taiwan, killing 1 and leaving damage behind

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A robust earthquake shook a lot of Taiwan on Sunday, toppling a three-story constructing and quickly trapping 4 individuals inside, stranding about 400 vacationers on a mountainside, and knocking a part of a passenger practice off its tracks.

One individual died and 9 individuals had minor accidents, Taiwan’s Emergency Operations Heart mentioned.

The magnitude 6.9 quake was the most important amongst dozens which have rattled the island’s southeastern coast since Saturday night, when a 6.4 quake struck the identical space.

Many of the harm gave the impression to be north of the epicenter, which Taiwan’s Central Climate Bureau mentioned was within the city of Chishang on the comparatively shallow depth of seven kilometers (4 miles).

In close by Yuli city, a cement manufacturing facility employee died and the three-story constructing, which had a 7-11 comfort retailer on the bottom flooring and residences above it, collapsed, the island’s Central Information Company mentioned.

The 70-year-old proprietor of the constructing and his spouse have been rescued first, however it took longer to get to a 39-year-old lady and her 5-year-old daughter.

A photograph launched by the Hualien metropolis authorities confirmed the woman mendacity on a blanket and being handed down a steel ladder from the highest of the particles by helmeted rescue employees in orange uniforms.

The highest two tales of the constructing have been left sprawled throughout a small avenue and onto the opposite aspect, with electrical energy wires pulled down by the fallen construction.

Greater than 7,000 households have been reported with out energy in Yuli, and water pipes have been additionally broken. Cabinets and musical devices fell over on the Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church and a protracted crack ran down its flooring. Outdoors, the pavement was damaged into slabs of concrete.

Police and firefighters rushed to a bridge collapse on a two-lane highway in what gave the impression to be a rural a part of the identical city the place three individuals and a number of automobiles might have fallen off, in keeping with media stories.

Additionally in Yuli, a landslide trapped practically 400 vacationers on a mountain well-known for the orange day lilies that blanket its slopes this time of 12 months, the Central Information Company mentioned. They’d no electrical energy and a weak cellphone sign.

Particles from a falling cover on a platform at Dongli station in Fuli city, which is between Yuli and the epicenter at Chishang, hit a passing practice, derailing six automobiles, the Central Information Company mentioned, citing the railway administration. Not one of the 20 passengers have been injured.

The shaking was felt on the north finish of the island within the capital, Taipei. In Taoyuan metropolis, west of Taipei and 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the epicenter, a person was injured by a ceiling collapse on the fifth flooring of a sports activities middle.

The Japan Meteorological Company issued a tsunami advisory for a number of southern Japanese islands close to Taiwan, however later lifted it.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Related Press author Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.