Earthquake of 6 magnitude strikes off east coast of Honshu, Japan; Taiwan earthquake injuries top 1,000

An earthquake of magnitude 6 struck off the east coast of Honshu, Japan on Thursday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The quake was at a depth of 32 km (19.88 miles), EMSC said.

Meanwhile, the number of people injured in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in eastern Taiwan climbed past 1,000 on Thursday though the death toll remained steady at nine, with dozens workers on their way to a hotel in a national park mostly now found safe.

The temblor, the strongest in 25 years, hit on Wednesday morning just as people were readying to go to work and school, centred on the largely rural and sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien.

Buildings also shook violently in capital Taipei, but damage and disruption there was minimal.

Taiwan’s fire department said the number of injuries had reached 1,050, putting the total number of missing at 52. Around two dozen of almost 50 hotel workers on their way to a resort in Taroko National Park had been located.

The fire department said the group was trapped on the cross-island highway which traverses the gorge connecting Hualien with Taiwan’s west coast and is a popular tourist destination.

It showed drone footage of some of the hotel workers, along with other people, waving from the side of a road, with the crushed back part of a minibus also clearly visible. Another group of 26 workers had also been found, it added.

Read more via Reuters