Strong earthquake kills 1, knocks house, derails train in Taiwan

An earthquake of 6.8 magnitude rattled much of Taiwan on Sunday, toppling a three-story building and temporarily trapping four people inside, stranding about 400 tourists on a mountainside, derailing train carriages, Taiwans Emergency Operations Centre said.

The earthquake was the largest among dozens that have rattled the island’s southeastern coast since Saturday evening, when a 6.4 quake struck the same area.

Most of the damage was reported from the town of Chishang at the relatively shallow depth of 7 km (4 miles). In nearby Yuli town, a cement factory worker died and the three-story building, which had a 7-11 convenience store on the ground floor and residences above it, collapsed, the islands Central News Agency said.

The 70-year-old owner of the building and his wife were rescued first, but it took longer to rescue a 39-year-old woman and her five-year-old daughter.

Also read: 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Taiwan; Japan issues tsunami warning

A photo released by the Hualien city government showed the girl lying on a blanket and being handed down a metal ladder from the top of the debris by helmeted rescue workers in orange uniforms.

The top two stories of the building were left sprawled across a small street and onto the other side, with electricity wires pulled down by the fallen structure. More than 7,000 households were reported without power in Yuli, and water pipes were also damaged. Shelves and musical instruments fell over at the Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church and a long crack ran down its floor.

Outside, the pavement was broken into slabs of concrete. Police and firefighters rushed to a bridge collapse on a two-lane road in what appeared to be a rural part of the same town where three people and one or more vehicles may have fallen off, according to media reports.

Around 400 tourists were trapped when a landslide hit the mountains in Yuli. They had no electricity and a weak cellphone signal.

Also, debris from a falling canopy on a platform at Dongli station in Fuli town, which is between Yuli and the epicentre at Chishang, hit a passing train, derailing six cars, the Central News Agency said, citing the railway administration. None of the 20 passengers were injured.

Tremors were also felt at the north end of the island in the capital, Taipei. In Taoyuan city, west of Taipei and 210 km (130 miles) north of the epicentre, a man was injured by a ceiling collapse on the 5th floor of a sports centre. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for several southern Japanese islands near Taiwan, but later lifted it.

(With inputs from agencies)