Taiwan 7.2 earthquake updates: At least nine dead, hundreds injured

Thank you for joining us for updates on the deadly earthquake that rocked Taiwan this morning.

You can read our up-to-date news story here, and our explainer here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon, so let’s remind you of what happened today:

• A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck at almost 8am off Taiwan’s eastern coast at a depth of 15.5km (9.6 miles).
• The epicentre was about 25km (15.5 miles) southeast of Hualien.
• The quake, the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years, was followed by several strong aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.5.
• Several buildings in Hualien were severely damaged.
• At least nine people have been confirmed dead and more than 900 injured.
• Rescue efforts are under way to save more than 100 people trapped in tunnels or buildings, all in the area around the city of Hualien.

About 2,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 or greater have hit Taiwan and its surrounding waters since 1980, according to the United States Geological Survey.

More than 100 of those measured a magnitude above 5.5.

“This high level of seismic activity will unfortunately continue for millions of years to come,” said Stephen Gao, the seismologist.

“This underscores the importance of preparedness and resilience in the face of ongoing seismic risks,” he told AP.

The quake measuring magnitude 7.2 has damaged several buildings in Hualien but caused only minor damage in Taipei despite being strongly felt there.

It struck in the middle of the morning rush hour yet only slightly derailed the regular commute. Shortly afterwards, parents were again seen walking their children to school and workers driving to offices.

“Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness is among the most advanced in the world,” Stephen Gao, a seismologist and professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, told AP. “The island has implemented strict building codes, a world-class seismological network and widespread public education campaigns on earthquake safety.”

The government continually revises the level of quake resistance required of new and existing buildings and offers subsidies to residents willing to check the quake resistance of their buildings.

After a 2016 earthquake in Tainan on the island’s southwestern coast, five people involved in the construction of a 17-storey apartment building that was the only major structure to collapse, killing dozens of people, were found guilty of negligence and given prison sentences.

Taiwan also is pushing quake drills at schools and workplaces while public media and cellphones regularly carry notices about quake safety.

“These measures have significantly enhanced Taiwan’s resilience to earthquakes, helping to mitigate the potential for catastrophic damage and loss of life,” Gao said.

Of the nine people confirmed dead so far, three were hikers who were killed in rockslides in Taroko National Park, which is in Hualien county.

Authorities said the three, who were part of a group of seven on an early-morning hike through the hills that surround the city, were crushed to death by boulders loosened by the earthquake, officials said.

Separately, the drivers of a truck and a car died when their vehicles were hit by tumbling boulders, while another man died at a mine.

Taiwan is located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, the horseshoe-shaped line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

The area is particularly vulnerable to temblors due to the tension accumulated from the interactions of two tectonic plates, the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, which may lead to sudden releases in the form of earthquakes.

The region’s mountainous landscape can magnify the ground shaking, leading to landslides.

Several such landslides occurred on Taiwan’s eastern coast near the epicentre of today’s quake close to Hualien County, when falling debris hit tunnels and highways, crushing vehicles and causing several deaths.

• At least nine people are confirmed dead.
• Another 882 have been injured.
• More than 70 people remain trapped but are believed to be alive, including some in a coal mine.
• Fifty people on minibuses are missing after phone networks went down.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr has expressed his country’s support to the people of Taiwan following the quake.

In a post on X, the Philippine president also said his government was “diligently ensuring” the safety of the nearly 160,000 Filipinos residing in Taiwan.

“We stand ready to assist and support our fellow Filipinos in Taiwan in any way possible during this difficult period,” he said.

Our hearts are with the people of Taiwan as they endure the aftermath of today's powerful earthquake.

Rest assured, our Department of Migrant Workers is diligently ensuring the safety of the 159,480 Filipinos currently residing in Taiwan.

We stand ready to assist and support…

— Bongbong Marcos (@bongbongmarcos) April 3, 2024

Authorities say they have lost contact with 50 people travelling on four minibuses heading to a hotel in Taroko National Park, 25km (15 miles) north of Hualien, after the quake downed phone lines.

Rescuers, meanwhile, were slowly evacuating people trapped in tunnels near the city, including two German nationals.

“At present, the most important thing, the top priority, is to rescue people,” President-elect Lai Ching-te said, speaking outside one of the collapsed buildings in Hualien.

Today’s earthquake was the strongest in 25 years – but what happened a quarter of a century ago?

On September 21, 1999, Taiwan was devastated by an earthquake of magnitude 7.7, which struck at 1:47am.

About 2,400 people were killed and 10,000 injured. More than 100,000 people were left without a home as thousands of buildings collapsed while many roads and bridges were also damaged.

We also have an update from Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker and Apple’s largest biggest iPhone assembler.

The company said it closed some of its production lines for inspection after the quake but added that normal production operations had since gradually resumed, according to Reuters.

The earthquake caused no damage to manufacturing equipment, it added, while the operational and financial impact to the company was described as very slight.

We reported earlier that Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC said staff at its factories in Hsinchu, southwest of Taipei, have returned to work after some production line employees were evacuated according to procedure.

The company’s Taipei-listed shares closed trading down 1.3 percent following this morning’s earthquake.

TSMC supplies semiconductors to companies such as Apple and Nvidia.

In Hualien city, a woman running bed and breakfast accommodation said that fear spread as the quake hit.

“This is the biggest earthquake I have ever experienced,” the woman, who asked to be identified by her family name, Chan, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Chang Yu-lin, a 60-year-old worker in a hospital in Taipei, described the shaking as “very strong”.

“It felt as if the house was going to topple,” Chang said.