Taiwan

Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years kills 9 people, 50 missing

• Earthquake kills nine, more than 900 injured
• Fifty on minibuses heading to national park missing
• Epicentre just off Taiwan's sparsely populated east coast
• Semiconductor giant TSMC evacuates production lines

HUALIEN, Taiwan, April 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan's biggest earthquake in at least 25 years killed nine people on Wednesday and injured more than 900, while 50 workers travelling in minibuses to a hotel in a national park were missing.

Some buildings tilted at precarious angles in the mountainous, sparsely populated county of Hualien, near the epicentre of the 7.2 magnitude quake, which struck just offshore at about 8 a. m. (0000 GMT) and triggered massive landslides.

Linda Chen, 48, said her apartment in downtown Hualien city had been so badly damaged in an earlier earthquake in 2018 that they had to move house. But her new apartment block was damaged too in the latest earthquake.

"We worry the house could collapse anytime. We thought we had already experienced it once in Hualien and it would not hit us again, because God has to be fair," she said.

"We are frightened. We are so nervous."

Strong earthquake hits Taiwan

A strong earthquake that hit Taiwan on Wednesday and measured magnitude 7.4, according to the United States Geological Survey, was the strongest to hit the island in about 25 years.