7.4 magnitude quake hits Taiwan, strongest in 25 years

Hospitals across Taiwan’s capital, Taipei City, are operating normally despite being damaged by Wednesday’s earthquake, according to the Municipal Government.

At least seven hospitals in the city are reported to have suffered some structural damage including “fallen tiles, partially fallen ceilings, cracks in the wall and electricity outage,” according to a government statement.

It said only one hospital was still offline following the quake.

At least seven people have died after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan on Wednesday.

About 77 are trapped or stranded, including four foreign nationals.

About 60 of those are trapped in the Jinwen Tunnel in northern Hualien County, Taiwan's National Fire Agency (NFA) said.

Another 15 are trapped in the Dachingshui Tunnel, and two German nationals are trapped in a third tunnel.

If you're just joining our coverage, here's what we know:

About 60 of the approximately 77 people trapped after an earthquake struck Taiwan Wednesday are caught in the Jinwen Tunnel in northern Hualien County, Taiwan's National Fire Agency (NFA) said.

Separately, 15 people are trapped in the Dachingshui Tunnel, also in northern Hualien County, NFA said, adding that two German nationals were trapped in a third tunnel.

At least seven people have died in the 7.4 magnitude quake.

Some background: The 400-meter Jinwen Tunnel is one of more than a dozen that thread the Suhua Highway, a treacherous and narrow road that runs for 118 kilometers (73 miles) along Taiwan's eastern coast.

Winding along cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean, it is one of Taiwan's most dangerous — yet most scenic — drives.

The highway, which connects Hualien with the north of Taiwan, has been closed after it suffered severe damage from landslides and fallen rocks in the quake.

Measuring earthquakes is no easy task, given they strike suddenly and sometimes on a global scale.

When the Earth’s crust shifts abruptly, an earthquake occurs, with energy radiated out as seismic waves and shaking that’s sometimes experienced by people, buildings and infrastructure.

Seismic waves and factors related to the shifting ground determine an earthquake’s magnitude, as measured through 10 on the scale most commonly used to describe quakes.

How strong the shaking feels is an earthquake’s intensity, as measured on a scale that uses Roman numerals to assign categories based on assessed damage and people’s observations.

Read more about what the scales indicate.

Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy of about 23 million people, the vast majority of whom live in the capital Taipei and the cities that dot the heavily industrialized western coast.

Taipei has around 2.5 million inhabitants while the wider New Taipei City is home to a further 4 million people. The southern port city of Kaohsiung has 2.7 million residents.

In contrast, the eastern coast — where Wednesday's quake struck — is much less populated.

The island is regularly rocked by earthquakes. 

Here's what to know about the epicenter: Hualien County has a population of about 300,000, around 100,000 of whom live in the main city of Hualien.

But many in the region live in remote coastal or mountain communities that can be hard to reach, so it might take time to understand the extent of Wednesday's quake.

A magnitude 6.2 quake hit the area in 2018, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 300 others.

Taiwan's global role: The small island is a major economy that has an outsized impact on global business and trade, mainly because of its world-beating chips industry.

It also lies at the center of geopolitical tensions.

China's Communist Party has claimed the island as its territory, despite never having controlled it. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ramped up economic, political and military pressure on Taiwan and vowed to one day "reunify" the island, by force if necessary.

Taiwanese people have largely shrugged off that threat. Earlier this year, voters handed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which Beijing loathes, a historic third consecutive presidency. Incumbent president Lai Ching-te will be inaugurated next month, replacing current president Tsai Ing-wen.

At least four foreign nationals are trapped in Taiwan after the island was hit by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years on Wednesday, according to the National Fire Agency (NFA).

Two Canadian citizens are among a dozen people trapped in Taroko Gorge, a popular tourist destination in Hualien County, the epicenter of the quake.

The 12 people are awaiting rescue on the Shakadang Trail, a popular walkway along turquoise water near the entrance of the famed marble-walled canyon, the NFA said.

Two German citizens are trapped in a tunnel on the Suhua highway on the island's eastern coast, the NFA said. The highway was severely damaged in the earthquake and has been closed.

Winding along cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean, the Suhua Highway is known as one of Taiwan's most dangerous — yet also the most scenic — drives. It's the main highway connecting Hualien with the north of the island and dotted with natural attractions.

Seven people have been killed in Taiwan after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the island's eastern coast on Wednesday morning, according to the National Fire Agency (NFA).

Another 736 people have been injured, the NFA said.

Three of the four people who died after the most powerful earthquake in 25 years hit Taiwan were hiking in Taroko Gorge, a popular tourist destination, according to the National Fire Agency (NFA).

The three people were struck by fallen rocks while hiking the Dekalun Trail in Taroko Gorge, a rugged marble-walled canyon famed for its raw natural beauty in Hualien County, the epicenter of the quake.

The fourth victim was a truck driver who was hit by fallen rocks outside a tunnel on the Suhua Highway, a major highway winding along steep cliffs of Taiwan's eastern coast that was severely damaged in the earthquake.

A section of the road outside the tunnel where the driver was killed had collapsed, according to earlier reports by Taiwan's television stations. The entire highway has been closed down following the quake.

At least 77 people are trapped across Taiwan after a powerful earthquake struck the island's eastern coast, according to the National Fire Agency (NFA).

Authorities did not elaborate on the condition of those trapped, but said that rescue operations were underway.

The 7.4 magnitude quake has killed four people and injured more than 700 others, according to NFA. Of those injured, 132 are in Hualien County, near the epicenter of the quake, the agency added.