7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan leaves 7 dead: Live updates

April 3, 2024 at 2:58 AM ET

April 3, 2024, 2:58 a.m. EDT Emergency workers help a survivor in New Taipei City on Wednesday. Credit… Taiwan Central News Agency, via Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

Taiwan's earthquake preparedness has evolved over the past few decades in response to some of the largest and most destructive earthquakes on the island.

In the years after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan that killed nearly 2,500 people in 1999, authorities established an urban search and rescue team and opened several emergency medical operations centers, among other measures.

In 2018, after an earthquake in the eastern coastal city of Hualien killed 17 people and caused several buildings to partially collapse, the government ordered a wave of building inspections.

Taiwan has also been improving its earthquake early warning system since the 1980s. Two years ago, it issued new building codes that, among other things, require owners of vulnerable buildings to install customized structural reinforcements.

So how prepared was Taiwan when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Hualien on Wednesday morning, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more?

The island's fire department said Wednesday afternoon that one building had completely collapsed across the island, 15 other buildings had partially collapsed and 67 other buildings had been damaged. Structural engineers could not immediately be reached for comment to assess this damage, or the extent to which building codes and other regulations may have contributed to it or prevented further destruction.

As for preparedness for search and rescue operations, Taiwan is generally in very good shape, said Steve Glassey, a disaster response expert who lives in New Zealand.

“The skills, capabilities, equipment and training are unparalleled,” said Dr. Glassey, who worked with the Taipei Urban Search and Rescue Team during the response to the devastating earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2011. “It's a very intense process.”

Aid workers from Taiwan in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the 2011 earthquake. Image source: Swimming pool photo by Mark Baker

But even the best urban search and rescue teams will be stretched if the quake causes many buildings to collapse, Dr. Glassey said.

Taiwan has options to request international assistance in search and rescue efforts. It can directly request another state or states to send individuals. If multiple teams are involved, they can ask the United Nations to help coordinate them, as it did after the 1999 earthquake.

Pierre Perron, a UN spokesman, said on Wednesday afternoon that no such request had been made yet as a result of the recent earthquake.

Megan Tobin contributed reporting.

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