Taiwan sees “widespread damage” from 6.8-magnitude earthquake

A 6.8-extent seismic tremor hit Taiwan’s southeastern coast on Sunday, imploding a three-story working in the town of Yuli, wrecking a train and abandoning many travelers on a mountain, as per its state-run news organization.

The big picture: The quake caused “widespread damage” to infrastructure in Hualien and Taitung counties but no serious injuries were immediately reported.

• Search and rescue personnel saved four people from the collapsed building in Yuli and three people trapped in the debris from the collapsed Gaoliao Bridge west of the town.
• Around 400 travelers were emptied off of Chike Mountain beyond the town after the tremor obliterated power lines nearby, leaving in excess of 7,000 families without power.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center briefly issued a tsunami warning after the quake but lifted it an hour later.

• Japan’s Meteorological Agency also issued a tsunami advisory for parts of Okinawa Prefecture.

By the numbers: The locale was hit by a size 6.4 seismic tremor on Saturday and in excess of 70 shudders that were recently recorded as consequential convulsions however were renamed as foreshocks.

• The United States Geological Survey recorded Sunday’s quake as 6.9 in magnitude.

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.

Police and firemen raced to an extension breakdown on a two-path street in what gave off an impression of being a provincial piece of similar town where three individuals and at least one vehicles might have tumbled off, as per media reports.

Also in Yuli, a landslide trapped nearly 400 tourists on a mountain famous for the orange day lilies that blanket its slopes this time of year, the Central News Agency said. They had no electricity and a weak cellphone signal.

Flotsam and jetsam from a falling shade on a stage at Dongli station in Fuli town, which is among Yuli and the focal point at Chishang, hit a passing train, wrecking six vehicles, the Focal News Office said, refering to the rail line organization. The 20 travelers were generally not harmed.

The shaking was felt at the north end of the island in the capital, Taipei. In Taoyuan city, west of Taipei and 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the epicenter, a man was injured by a ceiling collapse on the 5th floor of a sports center.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for several southern Japanese islands near Taiwan, but later lifted it.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A solid seismic tremor shook a lot of Taiwan on Sunday, bringing down a three-story building and briefly catching four individuals inside, abandoning around 400 sightseers on a mountainside, and thumping piece of a traveler train off its tracks.

The magnitude 6.8 quake 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. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Most of the damage appeared to be north of the epicenter, which Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said was in the town of Chishang at the relatively shallow depth of 7 kilometers (4 miles).

The three-story building, which had a 7-11 odds and ends shop on the ground floor and homes on the upper ones, fell in neighboring Yuli town, the island’s Focal News Organization said.

The 70-year-old owner of the building and his wife were rescued first, but it took longer to get to a 39-year-old woman and her 5-year-old daughter.

A photograph delivered by the Hualien regional government showed the young lady lying on a sweeping and being given over a metal stepping stool from the highest point of the flotsam and jetsam by helmeted salvage laborers in orange garbs.