Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years has killed seven and injured at least 700, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides on the island, and sparking initial tsunami warnings in southern Japan and the Philippines.

The quake, measured at a magnitude of 7.2 by Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency and 7.4 by the US, struck close to the popular tourist city of Hualien, on Taiwan’s eastern coast, damaging buildings and trapping people amid aftershocks following the quake, which started at 7.58 am.

Videos on social media showed commuters in a metro shaking, bridges swaying, vehicles stopping on highways and children being rescued from collapsed residential buildings. One five-storey building in Hualien appeared heavily damaged, its first floor collapsed and the bulk of the building leaned at a 45-degree angle.

Taiwan’s Centre for Science and Technology (CST) said people and vehicles were trapped in the Dachingshui tunnel. Train lines were also damaged, and schools and workplaces were closed across large areas of the city.

In one of the videos shared by a user, Collin Rugg, on X, one can see a collapsed building while people run away from the area filled with rubble. As the video progresses, one can see skyscrapers shaking.

Another video shows a bridge shaking violently while commuters patiently—with their vehicles—wait for the disaster to pass away.

In another visual, passengers—boarded on a metro—can be seen holding on to their seats and guardrails to keep themselves safe. Sharing the video, a user wrote, “Passengers are witnessing the earthquake of magnitude 7.3 in Taiwan. That’s really v massive.”

Damage was visible on some buildings in central Taipei, such as outside the Howard Plaza hotel, where the earthquake had damaged brickwork and dislodged some of the lettering on the hotel’s sign.

Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took to X and announced assistance to Taiwan to deal with the aftermath. “Japan stands ready to provide any assistance necessary to Taiwan, our neighbor across the sea, in times of difficulty,” Kishida wrote.

Japanese media initially said the quake could trigger waves as high as three metres in some areas of Okinawa prefecture, located roughly 1,600km south of Tokyo, but the forecasts were later downgraded. Japan’s meteorological agency lifted all tsunami advisories at around noon local time, while the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said there had been no reports of injury or damage.

Hualien’s last big quake was in 2022, when a 6.9-magnitude tremblor toppled buildings and derailed a train, killing one person and cutting off power for thousands of residents.