Taiwan earthquake: Rescue efforts underway after powerful earthquake
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Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te inspects the damage following the earthquake, in Hualien
Taiwan has thanked countries who have offered their help after the country was hit by a powerful earthquake on Wednesday 4 April..
While Taiwan has a history of quakes, it's the strongest to hit Taiwan, an island around 100 miles off the coast of China, in 25 years.
Rescue efforts are ongoing after the quake damaged buildings and caused huge landslides, which officials say could take weeks to repair.
It caused the most damage in the Hualien area - a remote but popular tourist area - where buildings fell, roads were blocked and train lines disrupted, leaving the region even more cut off from the rest of Taiwan.
In Hualien city, the capital of the region, relief efforts are proceeding quickly, with workers are using excavators and other heavy equipment to demolish several damaged buildings.
What happened?
Experts say the earthquake struck the eastern coast of Taiwan, with the epicentre around 11 miles south of the city of Hualien.
The region is known for its mountainous terrain and the earthquake and aftershocks damaged building and triggered landslides in the area.
It caused many large rocks and boulders to fall, blocking roads and railway lines and causing damage which could take weeks to repair.
On Thursday morning, the BBC also witnessed relief workers removing huge boulders - the size of cars - that had fallen close to railway lines so as to get normal train services running again.
Shaking from the earthquake was felt as far as Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, which is located around 100 miles away from where the quake hit and power cuts and internet outages were reported across the island.
The earthquake was also followed by more than 200 aftershocks - smaller quakes - which made search search and rescue efforts difficult and authorities expect there to be more aftershocks in the next few days.
Taiwan's foreign office issued a statement on social media expressing thanks for the offers of aid from "allies and friends".
Why did the Taiwan earthquake happen?
Earthquakes: what are they and what causes them? (2018)
It's not unusual for there to be earthquakes in Taiwan as it's an area with lots of tectonic activity.
The island lies near the junction of where two huge pieces of flat rock - called tectonic plates - meet.
The plates move very slowly and where they come together is called a fault.
When the plates rub together, the movement forces waves of energy to come to the Earth's surface which causes tremors and shakes - and these are called earthquakes.