Taiwan earthquake: Hotel topples in magnitude 6.4 shake

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake has rocked Taiwan's east coast, following a 'swarm' of 19 earthquakes over the past 48 hours. The US Geological Survey says it hit at a depth of 9.5km. There are reports of a collapsed hotel in the city of Hualien, which has a population of just over 100,000. There's already been an aftershock of magnitude 5, also at a depth of around 10km. Chief editor of the Taiwan Sentinel, J Michael Cole, has shared a photo on Twitter of the semi-collapsed building, believed to be the Marshal Hotel, which has about 300 rooms. There's no reports just yet of any casualties but the BBC reports emergency services are attending to people in the building. There's also video shared of damage to roads and footage of collapsed shelves in shops. Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes and sits on what's referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. It's on the junction of two tectonic plates. The quake hit on the second anniversary of the deadly earthquake in Pingtung City that claimed 117 lives, mostly due to a collapsed building.