Number of people injured in Taiwan quake grows to 963

Earlier, the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years rocked the island

At least 963 people have been injured in Taiwan after a powerful earthquake hit the island, a spokesperson for the response centre set up to deal with the aftermath of the quake, told a briefing.

According to the latest information, the highest number of injured is reported in Xinbei City (248 people) and Hualian County (176). Earlier, 821 people were reported injured. Nine people are still listed as dead.

Another 143 people are stranded or are waiting for help in hard-to-reach areas, the spokesperson said.

On Wednesday morning, the strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years rocked the island. Tremors with a magnitude of 7.2 in Hualien County, recorded at 7:58 a.m.( 5:28 a.m IST ) were felt throughout the island. According to seismologists, the epicentre was in the east of the island, 25 km southeast of Hualien City, and had a depth of 15.5 km. The earthquake was felt strongly in the provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi on China’s east coast.

As of 3:33 p.m. (13:27 p.m IST) local time more than 120 aftershocks had been recorded.