7.4 earthquake shakes Taiwan and leaves one dead and more than 50 injured

Taipei. A series of earthquakes that shook the island of Taiwan this Wednesday left one person dead and more than 50 injured, the Reuters agency reported.

GALLERY: Nine dead and hundreds injured by powerful earthquake in Taiwan

“Taiwan’s fire department reported Wednesday that one person has died so far and more than 50 have been injured after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the island’s east coast,” the outlet reported.

A five-story building in Hualien, a town with few inhabitants, looked heavily damaged after the first floor collapsed and the rest of the structure was left leaning at a 45-degree angle. In the capital, Taipei, tiles fell off several older buildings and fell into more modern office complexes.

Train service was suspended throughout the island of 23 million inhabitants, as well as subway service in Taipei. But the situation quickly returned to normal in the capital, where children went to school and morning traffic looked as usual.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that a rise of 30 centimeters (1 foot) in the tide was detected off the coast of Yonaguni Island about 15 minutes after the quake. The agency indicated that the waves presumably also reached the coasts of the islands of Miyako and Yaeyama.

Taiwan’s seismological agency reported a magnitude of 7.2 for the earthquake, while the United States Geological Survey (USGS) initially placed it at 7.5 and later reduced it to 7.4. The quake occurred at 7:58 a.m. about 18 kilometers (11 miles) south-southwest of Hualien, with a depth of about 35 kilometers (21 miles).

The director of Taiwan’s seismological agency, Wu Chien-fu, noted that impacts from the earthquake were even detected in Kinmen, an island under Taiwan’s control off the coast of China. Several aftershocks were felt in Taipei in the first hour after the earthquake.

The USGS said one of the aftershocks was magnitude 6.5 and at a depth of 11.8 kilometers (7 miles).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there is no tsunami threat for Hawaii or the US territory of Guam.

It is believed to be the strongest quake to hit Taiwan since an earthquake in 1999 caused extensive damage. Taiwan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a series of seismic faults that surround the Pacific Ocean and where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.