An earthquake hit Taiwan on Sunday. The Taiwan Meteorological Agency said the quake hit the sparsely populated southeast region of the island. The earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.
Three people were injured when their car plunged off a damaged bridge, according to firefighters, the island nation’s escape compared to the tremors that killed more than 100 people six years ago.
Rescue workers reached more than 600 people trapped in the mountainous area due to buried roads. Buildings also shook briefly in the capital, Taipei, and several aftershocks were felt. Major chip factories in the cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung were not affected, according to operators.
America has issued a tsunami warning
US monitoring stations measured the quake at 7.2 on the Richter scale and issued a tsunami warning for Taiwan, but the warning was soon lifted. Japanese authorities quickly canceled their own tsunami warning for parts of Okinawa Prefecture, which lies between Taiwan and the more distant main Japanese islands.
According to the Meteorological Center, the epicenter of the earthquake was near the city of Taitung, located in eastern Taiwan, on the Pacific coast. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit on Saturday evening and no one was injured.
The train derailed
According to officials, six train wagons derailed in the east of the country on Sunday and around 20 passengers had to be brought to safety. They were unharmed. First there was talk of three wagons. A small grocery store collapsed near the earthquake in Taitung. After that, 4 people who were trapped were rescued.
Because Taiwan lies on the border between two tectonic plates, it is prone to frequent earthquakes. A 7.3 magnitude earthquake in 1999 killed 2,000 people.
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