At least 4 people dead and 50 injured after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of Taiwan on Wednesday, leaving at least four people dead and nearly 50 injured, the country's Fire Department confirmed.

The telluric event is the strongest suffered in the Asian nation in 25 years.

Its epicenter was located about 18 kilometers south of the city of Hualien, confirmed the United States Geological Survey.

Images coming from the island show some buildings whose foundations collapsed due to the earthquake, landslides and people being evacuated from their homes and schools.

The impact of the earthquake also destroyed vehicles and threw items inside stores, videos broadcast by local radio station TVBS show.

Power and internet outages have been reported across the island, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks.

While Chinese state media said the tremor and its aftershocks were felt in parts of Fujian province, in the southeast of that country.

But still it is unknown the extent of the damage.

Taiwanese chip manufacturing giant TSMC said itand evacuated some of its factories in Hsinchu and southern Taiwan for the safety of its staff, but added that its security systems are operating normally.

TSMC is a major producer of semiconductors for technology companies such as Apple and Nvidia.

Tsunami watch ends

The earthquake has caused at least nine aftershocks of magnitude 4 or greater.

Taiwanese authorities issued a tsunami warning for the coastal regions of the island, and those of Japan did so for the islands of Miyakojima and Okinawa.

The Japan Meteorological Agency later downgraded the warning but asked residents to remain “vigilant for possible aftershocks of similar intensity” for about a week.

The Philippine seismological agency also issued a tsunami warning shortly after the quake, urging residents to evacuate to higher ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an update about two hours later that the tsunami threat “had passed.”

The strongest in 25 years

“The earthquake occurred near the surface, at shallow depths. It was felt throughout Taiwan and the coastal islands… It is the strongest in 25 years“said Wu Chien Fu, director of the Taipei Seismology Center.

In September 1999, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Taiwan, killing 2,400 people.

This Wednesday's earthquake occurred at 07:58 local time (23:58 GMT) at a depth of 15.5 kilometers and has caused at least nine aftershocks of magnitude 4 or greater.

Hualien has a population of about 300,000 people and is close to Taroko National Park, a popular tourist destination.

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