Strong earthquake shakes Taiwan and damages buildings

In this image taken from a video footage run by TVBS, a partially collapsed building is seen in Hualien, eastern Taiwan (TVBS/AP)

A powerful earthquake has rocked the island of Taiwan, damaging buildings in a southern city and creating a tsunami that headed towards southern Japanese islands.

Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency said Wednesday morning’s earthquake was magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4.