A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Taiwan’s southeastern coast on Sunday with at least one building collapsing and train cars derailed. 

The quake hit at 2:44pm (06:44 GMT) about 50km (30 miles) north of the city of Taitung at a depth of 10km (4 miles), the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. 

A two-story residential building collapsed near the epicentre and work is under way to rescue two trapped people. 

Video posted by Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency showed panicked residents running towards the building, which caved in on itself and sent up a thick cloud of dust. 

The Taiwan Railways Administration said three carriages came off the rails at Dongli station in eastern Taiwan after part of the platform canopy collapsed. The roughly 20 passengers on board were evacuated. 

The shaking was felt at the north end of the island in the capital, Taipei. The temblor’s initial strength was given as magnitude 7.2, but USGS later downgraded it to 6.9. 

A magnitude 6.6 quake hit the same region on Saturday and there have been multiple tremors since with Sunday’s the strongest by far. 

Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory to remote islands near Taiwan but it was later cancelled. The islands are about 2,000km (1,200 miles) southwest of Tokyo. 

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates. 

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a magnitude 7.3 temblor killed more than 2,000 people in 1999. 

(Source: Aljazeera)