Hotel and residential block were the worst hit by the quake in the port city of Hualien
At least seven people are dead and 225 injured including tourists after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck just off the east coast of Taiwan.
According to Police a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan has killed at least seven people and injured more than 225 others.
According to CNA, Taiwan’s official news agency About 150 people are missing, and with many believed to be still trapped inside buildings.
They further said that Dozens of aftershocks continued to shake the city, with 600 military personnel and more than 750 firefighters combing through the rubble and helping with rescue efforts.
Five more buildings including a hospital had also been damaged, with television footage showing roads strewn with rubble, cracks along highways and damaged buildings tilted at angles.
The injured 50 Japanese tourists are mainly from the Marshal Hotel, and a few of the injured were in the city buildings and one hotel employee was rescued from the basement and three others remain missing.
Cellphone video from Hualien City shows a large building leaning at a dangerous angle as sirens are heard in the background. The video shows people gathering near the building and shining flashlights on windows.
An Emergency response mechanism has also been launched by the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Local media said four buildings including Marshal Hotel, Yun Tsui building and two residential buildings were among the damaged.
Taiwan has frequent earthquakes due to its position along the “Ring of Fire,” the seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Earlier A magnitude 7.6 quake in central Taiwan killed more than 2,300 people in 1999 and earthquake happened on the second anniversary of a 6.4-magnitude tremor that killed 117 people.