ABU DHABI, 3rd April, 2024 (WAM) -- The National Seismic Network of the National Centre of Metrology reported a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan at 03:58 (UAE time) on Wednesday.
Also, Reuters reported that the quake was the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years, killing four people, injuring dozens and sparking a tsunami warning for southern Japan and the Philippines that was later lifted.
Taiwan's fire department said four people had died in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien close to the epicentre, with more than 50 injured.
At least 26 buildings have collapsed, more than half in Hualien, though in one of the worst damaged ones 22 people were rescued with only one missing, the fire department said.
Moreover, Japan's weather agency said several small tsunami waves reached parts of the southern prefecture of Okinawa, and later downgraded the earlier tsunami warning to an advisory. It put the earthquake's magnitude at 7.7.
The Philippines Seismology Agency also issued a warning for residents in coastal areas of several provinces, urging them to evacuate to higher ground.
Taiwan also issued a tsunami warning, but reported no damage from that, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii later said the risk of damaging tsunami waves had passed.