Taipei: Taiwan's fire department said on Wednesday that so far one person had died and more than 50 were injured after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the island's east coast.

An earthquake offshore Taiwan with a magnitude of 7.2 rocked the capital Taipei on Wednesday morning, knocking out power in several parts of the city and sparking a tsunami warning for the islands of southern Japan and the Philippines.

Taiwan television stations showed footage of some collapsed buildings in the eastern county of Hualien, near the quake's epicentre, and media reported some people were trapped.