“This is the biggest earthquake I have ever experienced,” said the woman who asked to be identified by her family name, Chan.
Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in at least 25 years killed seven people on Wednesday, injuring more than 700, with 77 trapped in tunnels and collapsed buildings, authorities said, as rescuers used ladders to help some people descend to safety.
The quake hit at a depth of 15.5 km (9.6 miles), just as people were headed for work and school, setting off a tsunami warning for southern Japan and the Philippines that was later lifted.
Television broadcast images of buildings tilted at precarious angles in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien, near the epicentre of the 7.2 magnitude quake, which struck just offshore at about 8 a. m. (00:00GMT).
Fire authorities said about 60 of the roughly 77 trapped were caught in a tunnel just north of Hualien city, with two Germans among those trapped in another tunnel.
“It was very strong. It felt as if the house was going to topple,” said Chang Yu-lin, 60, a worker in a hospital in Taipei, the capital.
Video showed rescuers using ladders to help trapped people out of windows, while elsewhere there were massive landslides, as strong tremors in Taipei forced the subway system to close briefly, although most lines resumed service.
The death toll has risen to at least nine people with 882 wounded, according to authorities.
“At present the most important thing, the top priority, is to rescue people,” said President-elect Lai Ching-te, speaking outside one of the collapsed buildings in Hualien.
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