Two Indians reported missing after Taiwan quake safe: Foreign ministry

TWO Indians who were among a dozen people that went missing after an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocked Taiwan on April 3 were safe, confirmed the country's external affairs ministry on Thursday (4).

"Two persons, we were not able to establish contact in the wake of the earthquake there. But now, we have established contact and they are safe," ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in his weekly briefing.

The quake, the strongest to hit the island in about 25 years, left at least 13 dead and more than 700 injured. The disaster struck Taiwan's mountainous Hualien County during the morning peak hour.

Read: Taiwan leadership thank Modi over his solidarity to island’s quake-hit people

Search was still on for more missing people as dramatic visuals online showed shaking buildings, swaying bridges and people running for cover.

Pictures and videos also showed buildings leaning dangerously with their ground floors crushed. The quake even triggered tsunami alerts in other island-nations in the region, such as Japan and the Philippines.

Dozens of aftershocks were felt in Taipei, the capital city located more than 150 kilometres from the epicentre. There, impact was felt as tiles fell off older buildings and schools were evacuated as part of safety measures.

Taiwan's location above the intersection of two tectonic plates, makes it highly prone to earthquakes. In 2016, more than 100 people were killed in an earthquake in southern Taiwan while another in 1999 had killed over 2,000.

(with PTI inputs)