Brazilian representation in Taiwan says there are no reports of Brazilians injured in earthquake | World

Director of Brazil’s office in Taiwan talks about earthquake: ‘Scary’

There are no reports of Brazilians injured in the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that left nine dead and more than 946 injured in Taiwan, this Wednesday morning (3), local time. Tsunami risk warnings were issued for Japan and the Philippines.

In an interview with GloboNews, the director of the Brazil office in Taipei, Miguel Magalhães, spoke about the situation of Brazilian citizens in the country hit by the tremor. According to him, there are more than 7 thousand Brazilians living in the country.

“There are around 7,500 Brazilians in Taiwan and, fortunately, there are no records of victims in this earthquake, which makes us very happy”, says Miguel Magalhães.

He says that there is a WhasApp group where Brazilians communicate. ““We have contact with the Brazilian community through various means. We have WhatsApp groups and we have a council of Brazilian citizens that meets periodically and keeps us informed about what is happening in the community”.

Magalhães explains that the country is part of a very active seismic zone, with thousands of tremors every year, most of them imperceptible.

“The country, like others that have problems of this nature, faces difficulties. Basically, every month, every semester, we have an exercise with the public. It’s an island-wide exercise. People seek shelter, they seek to stay informed, and this is done regularly in schools and the general public. Once a year, Taipei stops, Taiwan stops because of this exercise,” she says.

The Brazilian says that this is the strongest earthquake he has ever witnessed. “It’s a complicated day. The earthquake was very violent. I’ve been through several earthquakes in my career as a diplomat, but I’ve never seen anything like this one. It’s scary, really“.

What is known so far:

• This is the strongest earthquake recorded in Taiwan in the last 25 years.
• According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a magnitude 7.7 tremor was recorded off the east coast of Taiwan.
• At least 26 buildings collapsed, more than half of them in the city of Hualien.
• Authorities said 77 people were trapped in the rubble of properties damaged by the earthquake.
• Another 50 people, most of them tourists, who were in four minibuses, are missing.
• In Taipei, part of the city was left without power. A video shows frightened passengers inside a subway car.
• After the tremor, tsunami warnings were issued for islands in Japan and the Philippines and canceled about three hours later.
• The earthquake was also felt in coastal Chinese cities, including Shanghai.

Initially, the Japan Meteorological Agency had recorded a magnitude of 7.7 in the Taiwan earthquake, but later revised the data and lowered the magnitude to 7.5. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which monitors earthquakes around the world, stated that the magnitude of the tremor was 7.4.