Video: Four killed, 145 missing after quake rocks Taiwan

A Reuters video showed large cracks in the road, while police and emergency services tried to help anxious people roaming the streets 

President Tsai Ing-wen went to the scene of the quake early on Wednesday to help direct rescue operations 

Rescuers in eastern Taiwan search for survivors in toppled buildings, after a 6.4 quake kills two and injures more than 200 https://t.co/affTgqJORC pic.twitter.com/wOcnfedPuD

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 7, 2018

"The president has asked the cabinet and related ministries to immediately launch the 'disaster mechanism' and to work at the fastest rate on disaster relief work," Tsai's office said in a statement.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker and major Apple supplier, said initial assessments indicated no impact from the earthquake.

Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers part of its territory, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck nearby on Sunday.

More than 100 were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and some Taiwanese remain scarred by a 7.6 magnitude quake that was felt across the island and killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.