A magnitude 7.5 earthquake off the coast of Taiwan shook the capital Taipei on Wednesday morning, knocking out power to several areas of the city and prompting a tsunami warning for the southern islands of Japan and the Philippines.
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A strong earthquake hit the south of the island of Taiwan with a magnitude of 7.5 according to the United States Geological Survey at a depth of about 35 kilometers above the surface.
Taiwanese television showed images of some collapsed buildings in Hualien, near the epicenter of the quake, and local media reported that some people had been trapped.
Japan issued an evacuation notice for coastal areas of the southern Okinawa prefecture. Tsunami waves of up to 3 meters were expected to reach large areas of Japan's southwestern coast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The Philippine Seismological Agency also issued a warning to residents in coastal areas of several provinces, urging them to evacuate to higher ground.
The first reports of the magnitude of the earthquake indicate that it may be one of the largest that the area has suffered in recent years. In fact, Taiwan's official Central News Agency said the earthquake was the largest to hit the island since 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 tremor killed about 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings in one of the worst tremors recorded in the history of the island.
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