Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits eastern Taiwan

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked eastern Taiwan at 1.01pm on Thursday, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets and shaking buildings 115km (71 miles) away in the island’s capital, Taipei.

The quake’s epicentre was just over 10km northwest of the city of Hualien, at a depth of 18.8km, the island’s Central Weather Bureau said, adding that a 4.1 quake was reported 17 minutes later.

At least 17 people were injured, and a 12-storey building in Taipei was left leaning to one side, but there were no reports of major property damage.

Two Malaysian tourists – a man and a woman – were injured by falling rocks at Taroko National Park in Hualien county, with both being airlifted to a hospital in the city. Ten people in Taipei and five in New Taipei City also suffered injuries.

Train services on Taipei’s subway were suspended as were the airport subway to Taoyuan International Airport and most other metro and train systems in various parts of Taiwan, especially those around eastern and northern Taiwan, for safety inspections, the island’s cabinet said.

Taiwan Power Company said operations were normal at the island’s first and second nuclear power plants in northern Taiwan and asked the public to stay calm.

The strong quake sent high-rise buildings swaying in Taipei, with a number of households and offices reporting fallen objects.

“I was so panic and tried to find some place for shelter after the quake rocked for a moment. It seemed like the building was going to collapse. All the books were shaken off the shelves and glasses shattered all over the floor,” a resident of Taipei’s bustling Ximending district said.

The Daan District Office in Taipei reported that a ceiling had fallen into the middle of its office, but nobody was injured.

A building on Changan East Road in Taipei was reported to have tilted to one side, prompting residents to flee into the street.

Taiwanese television stations ran footage showing overturned furniture in homes and offices and at least one landslide along the mountainous and lightly populated east coast.

Elsewhere in Taiwan, part of the Suao-Hualien Highway collapsed but there were no injuries, the National Fire Agency said.

Near the epicentre in Hualien, more cases of damage were reported, including several supermarkets where items were shaken off shelves.

A resident said he was taking an afternoon nap when the earthquake shook.

“I felt as if my heart was spilling out of my mouth and was so panicked that I could hardly move, but I managed to rush to the street,” he said, adding that aftershocks were rocking the area.

Workers at Hualien’s main railway station were struggling to clear a flooded lobby after several water pipes burst in the quake, county authorities said.

Operations remain unaffected at Taiwan’s hi-tech industrial estates, including Hsinchu Science Park.

Taiwan is on the string of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean known as the “Rim of Fire” and is frequently rocked by tremors, including a 1999 quake that killed more than 2,300 people.

An earthquake in Hualien in February last year killed 17 people when four buildings partially collapsed. That quake hit two years to the day after a residential building in the southwestern city of Tainan collapsed in an earthquake, killing 115 people.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Press