2 dead, 150 missing after magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocks in Taiwan

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the Taiwanese coastal city of Hualien late on Tuesday, 6 February, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, killing at least two, injuring more than 200 and trapping people inside several collapsed buildings. The latest figures from government data indicated at least 149 people were missing.

Fire officials said up to 16 people were trapped in a residential building in Hualien, an area popular with tourists on Taiwan's rugged east coast. The quake struck about 22 km (14 miles) northeast of Hualien shortly before midnight, with its epicentre very shallow at just 1 km, the USGS said. Several aftershocks hit the area but there was no word of any tsunami warning.  The government said 214 people had been injured. Hualien is home to about 1,00,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the force of the quake, with around 40,000 homes left without water and more than 600 without power. President Tsai Ing-wen went to the scene of the quake early on Wednesday to help direct rescue operations. President Tsai Ing-wen’s office in a statement.The president has asked the cabinet and related ministries to immediately launch the ‘disaster mechanism’ and to work at the fastest rate on disaster relief work.

Premier William Lai said the government was urgently repairing a major highway damaged by the quake. Among the buildings toppled in the quake was the Marshal Hotel in Hualien, where two people were trapped inside, the government said. Four other buildings, including two hotels and a military hospital, also tilted during the quake in Hualien, which is about 120 km (75 miles) south of the capital, Taipei. "We were still open when it happened," said Lin Ching-wen, who operates a restaurant near the military hospital."I grabbed my wife and children and we ran out and tried to rescue people," he said. The government said two bridges in the city were either cracked or could not be used due to the quake.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker and major Apple supplier, said initial assessments indicated no impact from an earthquake in Hualien on Tuesday night, according to a spokeswoman. The company's headquarters and some facilities are located in northern Hsinchu, where the shock of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake was not felt overnight, the spokeswoman said on Wednesday. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck nearby on Sunday. Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers part of its territory, is prone to earthquakes. Some people in Taiwan are still scarred by a 1999 earthquake with 7.6 magnitude whose impact was felt across the island and in which more than 2,000 people died. More recently, an earthquake in 2016 in southern Taiwan left more than 100 dead.