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A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan on Wednesday, damaging a number of buildings and a significant freeway within the east coast metropolis of Hualien, and shaking the island, inflicting energy outages.
Two high-rise buildings in Hualien, which suffered notably intensive injury, have been on the middle of rescue efforts there. Many of the injury throughout town was not life-threatening, stated Huang Hsuan-wan, a reporter for an area information website.
“Numerous roads have been closed. “Numerous partitions fell on automobiles,” Derrick du Plessis, 44, of Hualien, South Africa, stated shortly after the quake. He described folks working across the metropolis to test their houses and choose up their kids. Certainly one of his pals misplaced his dwelling, he stated.
One of many broken buildings in Hualien, a 10-storey construction referred to as the Uranus Constructing, which homes a mixture of homes and outlets, was leaning and on the breaking point. Lots of its residents managed to flee, however some have been lacking, stated Sunny Wang, a metropolis journalist. Rescue staff have been attempting to achieve the basement, fearful that individuals may be trapped there.
Images of preliminary injury in Hualien confirmed one other constructing, a five-story construction, leaning on one aspect, with crushed bikes seen at floor stage. Bricks fell from one other tall constructing, leaving cracks and holes within the partitions.
The quake brought on at the very least 9 landslides on the Suhua Freeway in Hualien, in accordance with Taiwan's Central Information Company, which stated a bit of the street had collapsed.