Earthquake hits southern Taiwan, knocking down building and derailing train

Firefighters work to rescue people who were at a convenience store that collapsed during the earthquake in Yuli City, Taiwan. | Photo: EFE / EPA / DANIEL CENG SHOU YI

An earthquake shook a sparsely populated area in the southern part of Taiwan on Sunday (10), reported the country’s meteorological service. Train cars were derailed, a store building collapsed, and access to roads for hundreds of people visiting a mountainous region was disrupted.

The tremor, whose value on the Richter scale was measured at 7.2 points by US government geologists and 6.8 points locally, it was the second this weekend. On Saturday, another 6.4 magnitude quake in the same area — Taitung County — was also observed. Did not cause deaths.

According to Taiwan’s railway governing body, six wagons derailed at Dongli station in the eastern part of the island. No one enter 17 passengers were injured in the derailment.

Four people were successfully rescued from the collapsed shop in Yuli City: a gentleman of 60 years owner of the building along with his wife, a woman of 20 years old and her five-year-old daughter. One person would have died in the collapse. Three others were injured in a car that fell off an affected bridge and were taken to hospital. The information is from Reuters and the Australian Associated Press.