A powerful earthquake rocked much of Taiwan on Sunday, collapsing a three-story building, temporarily locking four people inside and leaving about 400 tourists on a mountainside.
The 6.8 Reacher quake was the strongest of dozens to rock the island’s southeast coast since Saturday night, when a 6.4 quake hit the same area.
The Japan Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning shortly after the quake, and released a statement a few hours later that there was no more tsunami risk.
Taiwan’s national fire department said one person was killed when a car crashed into a cement factory in Yuli, near the epicenter. According to the Ministry of Health, 79 people sought medical help or were hospitalized.
Most of the damage occurred north of the epicenter, which was located in the city of Chishan, according to Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Bureau. The island’s central news agency reported that a three-story building collapsed in the nearby town of Yuli, with a shop on the ground floor and residential buildings on the upper floors.
The 70-year-old building owner and his wife were the first of four people arrested for removal from the rubble, followed by a 39-year-old woman and her 5-year-old daughter. The top two floors of the building were strewn across the street, with electrical wires strung through the collapsed structure. In Yuli, more than 7,000 houses were left without electricity, water pipes were damaged.
Police and firefighters also rushed to the site of a bridge collapse on a two-lane road in a rural part of the same city, where media reports said three people and one or more vehicles may have fallen.
Also in Yuli, a landslide captured about 400 tourists on a mountain known for its orange lilies that cover its slopes at this time of year, the Central News Agency reported.
Debris from the canopy that fell on the platform of Dongli Station in Fuli City, which is between Yuli and the epicenter in Chishan, hit a passing train, causing six carriages to derail, the Central News Agency said, citing the railway administration. He added that none of the 20 passengers were hurt.
The earthquake was felt at the northern tip of the island, in the capital Taipei. In the city of Taoyuan, west of Taipei and 210 kilometers north of the epicenter, a man was injured as a result of a roof collapse on the 5th floor of a sports center.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen urged people to be vigilant about the risk of aftershocks. “Water and electricity supplies in some areas were also affected by the earthquake,” Cai Ing-wen wrote on Facebook, emphasizing that rescue efforts are ongoing.
This Sunday, thousands of people took refuge in shelters in southwest Japan when typhoon worshiped headed to the regionleading authorities are recommending the evacuation of more than four million residents.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a “special warning” for Kagoshima and Mizayaki in the south of the large island of Kyushu to warn residents of the high risk of severe weather.