Taiwan’s largest earthquake in a quarter of a century
3 April 2024 09:59
In the morning rush hour of Wednesday, Taiwan was hit by a powerful earthquake, the strongest in a quarter of a century. The quake damaged buildings and roads, and killed four people, Komersant ukrainskyi 
citing the AP.
Taiwan’s National Fire Agency reported the deaths of four people in Hualien County and the injuries of at least 57 others as a result of the earthquake, which occurred around 8 am. According to the local edition of the United Daily News, three tourists were killed in a rock fall in Taroko National Park, which is located near the epicentre. Several buildings were reportedly destroyed and damaged, one of them tilted and stopped at a 45-degree angle.
Taiwan’s Earthquake Monitoring Agency estimated the magnitude of the quake at 7.2, while the US Geological Survey said it was 7.4. The epicentre of the earthquake was located about 18 kilometres southwest of Hualien at a depth of approximately 35 kilometres. However, one of the tremors had a magnitude of 6.5 and a depth of 11.8 kilometres.
According to the Chinese media, the earthquake was also felt in Shanghai and several provinces on China’s southeastern coast. China has not declared a tsunami threat on its territory. A tsunami of 30 cm was recorded on one of the islands of Japan.
The strongest earthquake in Taiwan in recent years occurred on 21 September 1999 with a magnitude of 7.7. It resulted in 2,400 deaths and 100,000 injuries and destroyed thousands of buildings.
