Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the island on Wednesday morning.
It said the quake hit at a depth of 15.5 kilometres with the epicentre around 25 kilometres southeast of Hualien.
Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS posted footage of a collapsed building.
At least four people have died and more than 50 others were injured in the quake, according to Taiwan’s fire department.
The fire department was also cited in reports that at least 26 buildings had collapsed with more than half of that number in the eastern county of Hualien.
Footage broadcast locally showed damaged buildings standing at precarious angles.
Quake ‘the strongest in 25 years’: Taipei Seismology Centre
The director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre, Wu Chien-fu, told reporters that the earthquake was “the strongest in 25 years.”
“The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands … it’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake,” Wu told reporters, referring to a September 1999 quake measuring 7.6-magnitude that killed 2,400 people.
“The public should pay attention to relevant warnings and messages and be prepared for earthquake evacuation,” Wu warned.
Taiwan experiences regular seismic activity, as the island is situated close to the junction of two tectonic plates, while nearby Japan experiences around 1,500 jolts every year.
Japan downgrades tsunami warning
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) lifted an earlier tsunami warning for Japan’s southern islands.
At 9:18 am local time, the JMA reported that a 30 cm tsunami reached Yonaguni Island.
Earlier, Japanese authorities had issued an evacuation advisory for coastal areas near the southern prefecture of Okinawa.
“Evacuate!” said a banner on Japanese national broadcaster NHK.
“Tsunami is coming. Please evacuate immediately,” an anchor on NHK said. “Do not stop. Do not go back.”
Japan’s Self Defense Force dispatched aircraft to gather information about the possible impact tsunami waves could have around the Okinawa region and were preparing shelters for evacuees if necessary.
Flights at the Naha Airport in Okinawa had been suspended as a precautionary measure, a transport ministry official said.
In March, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the main Japanese island of Honshu. It triggered a tsunami which disabled the power supply that cooled three reactors at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, triggering a nuclear disaster. Around 18,500 people were killed or were missing.
Philippines cancels tsunami warning
The Philippines had also issued warnings of “high tsunami waves” and called for the evacuation of coastal areas.
The country’s seismology agency later canceled the tsunami warning.
“Based on available data of our sea level monitoring stations facing the epicentral area, no significant sea level disturbances have been recorded since 07:58 am up until this cancellation,” the agency said in an advisory.
This article first appeared on DW.
