earthquake strikes Taiwan
At least four people are dead and 225 injured — including tourists — after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck just off the east coast of Taiwan late Tuesday, local police said.
As of Wednesday morning 145 people were unaccounted for, according to CNA, Taiwan’s official news agency, with four buildings in the area either tilting or already collapsed.
The quake was centered in the East China Sea about 21 kilometers (13 miles) north of the city of Hualien. Light shaking was felt in the capital of Taipei, about 120 kilometers north of Hualien, according to reports sent to the US Geological Survey.
The Marshal Hotel in downtown Hualien was one of the buildings that collapsed, Jeff Lin with the Hualien Police Department said.
About 400 rescue workers scrambled to locate people, and a crane was brought in to help, footage from CNN affiliate SET TV showed. One building apparently had collapsed onto what once was the ground floor.