7.6 Quake Hits Taiwan; 400 Killed, 2,000 Hurt

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The strongest earthquake in Taiwan in decades jolted the island early today, wrecking a 12-story hotel here in the capital, destroying more than 100 homes islandwide and killing at least 400 people, the government said. About 2,000 people were injured.

State television put the death toll at 402, with more than 2,100 people injured or trapped.

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 and was centered 90 miles south-southwest of Taipei, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center said. The center issued warnings of possible tsunamis, or huge waves that sometimes follow earthquakes.

The temblor was about the same strength as the devastating one that struck Turkey on Aug. 17, killing more than 15,000 people.

Severe damage was reported in the town of Puli near the epicenter, but details were sketchy. An explosion was reported at the town’s major business, a rice wine distillery, and scores of buildings had suffered damage, the Broadcasting Corp. of China said. No casualty figures were immediately available.

“The death toll continues to rise, and we continue to discover more people being trapped in the collapsed buildings,” a spokesman at the government’s disaster center said.

“It is still very difficult to estimate the extent of the damage,” the spokesman said.

In Taipei, the quake wrecked the 78-room Sungshan Hotel, collapsing the bottom stories and setting the badly damaged top listing to one side.

Fire crews turned hoses on the hotel as smoke poured from fires raging in several destroyed rooms, and a woman pulled from the wreckage urged rescuers to look for more injured.

“Hurry, go rescue people. They’re in there. They’re inside,” said the unidentified woman, who was dressed in street clothes and did not appear to be injured.

“I lived on the ninth floor, but now it’s the fourth floor,” she said.

Meanwhile, 50 people were reported injured when a 12-story apartment building collapsed in the Taipei suburb of Hsinchuang. An estimated 100 others were still trapped within the building, which fell onto a neighboring five-story structure.

Taiwan Television showed collapsed four-story residential buildings in the central city of Taichung but gave no figures for dead or injured. Water poured from ruptured mains, and distraught residents squatted with their heads in their hands as rescuers helped apparently unhurt survivors from one building.

Most of the victims had been found in Taichung and near the epicenter in nearby Nantou, 130 miles south of Taipei. Several roads were buckled and traffic was disrupted, isolating many remote towns.

In Washington, President Clinton said he and Mrs. Clinton were “saddened” by news of the quake.

“We are in touch directly with the Taiwan authorities to determine what assistance from the United States may be needed,” he said.

Today’s quake was Taiwan’s worst since a magnitude 7.4 temblor hit the island in 1935, killing 3,276 people. Taiwan weathers dozens of quakes each year, but most strike in the Pacific Ocean east of the island and cause no damage.

The quake hit at about 1:45 a.m., while most of Taiwan’s 22 million people were sleeping. It knocked out electric service throughout the northern part of the island. State radio said the initial quake was followed by six aftershocks.

After the temblor, people made their way into the streets from damaged buildings, some wearing only underwear, some in nightclothes. Some appeared dazed, but others quickly recovered from the sudden awakening. A few waved from damaged buildings.

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who is visiting Taipei as part of a two-week Asian trade mission, said he was sleeping in a top-floor room in the 25-story Grand Hyatt Regency in Taipei when the earthquake hit.

“We’ve been through quite an experience,” Kempthorne said by telephone later from the street outside the hotel. “I think many of us thought we might be done for.”

Kempthorne said the quake began as a gentle swaying, “and then it increased in intensity until you were virtually thrown from the bed.”

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou announced that schools and offices would be closed today.

In the southwestern Chiang Kai-shek district, some people brought candles into the street. Many carried umbrellas to stay out of the rain and huddled around battery-operated radios.

Rern-Wei Cheng, a visitor to Taipei from California, said he was watching television with his family when the earthquake struck.

“When I first felt the quake, I thought of a Turkish friend who went back to Turkey to visit his family when the earthquake hit there. . . . We were all frightened, and we hid under the kitchen table.” No one in the family was hurt.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake prompted tsunami warnings for Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Yap, Guam and Palau.