7.4 magnitude quake hits Taiwan, strongest in 25 years

There have been 29 aftershocks greater than a magnitude of 4.0 near the epicenter of the earthquake in east Taiwan so far, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Of these aftershocks:

Forecast during recovery efforts: Tonight's forecast in Hualien City, near the epicenter, calls for increasing cloud coverage. Thursday is looking at mostly cloudy skies with afternoon showers and rain Thursday night and Friday during the day.

Rainfall totals should be relatively light for Taiwan, with models calling for under 25 mm (less than 1 inch) by Friday evening local time.

A dashcam camera has caught the moment a large landslide came down a mountain in Taiwan, triggered by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday morning.

The quake is the strongest to have rattled the island in 25 years, killing at least nine people and leaving more than 150 trapped.

The number of injuries from the earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday has risen to 934, according to Taiwan's National Fire Agency (NFA). The death toll remains at nine people.

The NFA did not indicate the severity of the injuries.

Seventy-five people stranded in various tunnels in Hualien County have all been rescued by emergency responders. As of 7 a.m. ET, 137 people remain trapped.  

The death toll due to an earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday has risen to nine, while 882 people have been injured, according to Taiwan's National Fire Agency (NFA).

The NFA did not indicate the severity of the injuries.

Dozens trapped: 131 people are currently trapped, including 50 employees of the Silks Place Hotel Taroko, who were traveling in four minibuses. Authorities have been unable to reach them by phone, and have listed them as trapped for the time being.

Two German citizens who were trapped earlier in a tunnel in Hualien County have been rescued, the NFA added.  

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.