A magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck Taiwan on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, injuring 27 people and causing roofs to collapse on homes, according to local officials.
An AFP journalist in the capital, Taipei, felt shaking for about a minute as a mild earthquake struck shortly after midnight.
The USGS said the quake’s epicenter was 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Yujing, a mango-growing district in southern Taiwan.
Video posted on Facebook and verified by AFP showed local fire officials rescuing three people, including a child, who were trapped in a house that collapsed in the nearby Nanxi district. The roofs of many other houses in the district collapsed.
Elsewhere, one person was injured by falling debris, while two people were rescued by lift, officials said.
The Health Ministry said a total of 27 people were injured, while the Nanxi District Fire Department said there was “no major damage”.
Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC said it had laid off workers from some of its central and southern factories.
In Chiayi city, north of Yujing, CCTV footage shared on threads and verified by AFP showed shelves shaking and goods falling to the floor.
Taiwan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location on the edge of two tectonic plates near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which the USGS says is the most seismically active region in the world.
The last major earthquake occurred in April 2024 when a deadly magnitude 7.4 shock struck the island, which officials said was the strongest earthquake in 25 years. At least 17 people were killed in that earthquake, which triggered landslides and severely damaged buildings around Hualien.
The April earthquake was the worst to hit Taiwan since a magnitude 7.6 quake struck in 1999. That earthquake killed about 2,400 people, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.
Since then, Taiwan has updated and enhanced its building codes to include earthquake-resistant construction methods, such as steel bars that allow buildings to move more easily when the ground shakes.
Renowned for its cutting-edge technology companies, Taiwan has built an advanced early warning system that can alert the public about potentially serious ground shaking within seconds.
The system has been extended over the years to include new tools such as smartphones and high-speed data connectivity, even in some of the most remote parts of the island.
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