Hundreds of homes were destroyed and many high-rise buildings toppled in the tremor that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and centred at the southwestern Hualien Island, 145 km from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, and rocked at 1.45 am local time.

The tremor was followed by over 1,000 aftershocks, reports reaching here said.

Nantou County and the areas near the epicentre close to the central city of Taichung were the worst hit with power, water, gas and telecom channels completely disrupted, affecting about six million families. Many remote towns were isolated as damaged roads disrupted traffic.

The town of Puli reported 98 per cent structural damage in the quake that was of the same intensity that had hit Turkey claiming 15,000lives.

Troops joined rescuers trying to reach people trapped under debris, while army vehicles and helicopters ferried the injured to hospitals. According to the interior ministry's disaster management centre, about 1,306 people were missing or trapped under the debris of flattened structures.

The quake was also felt in parts of Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces along the eastern and southern coast of the Chinese mainland. However, there were no reports of any casualty or damage to property.

In Taipei, which escaped with minor damage, the quake wrecked a 12-storey hotel, setting off a fire. Though fire fighters managed to put out the flames, many people were feared trapped inside the building.

TV networks showed dazed people, many of them still in their sleeping dresses, running in panic looking for their kin and helping the rescuers rummaging through the debris of the collapsed structures for survivors.

Taiwan President Lee Teng-Hui, who flew by helicopter to Taichung, where 816people have died so far, to personally oversee the rescue operations, urged people to stay calm and pledged swift help for those battered by the calamity.

``I ask the public to stay calm and the government will do its best to help the people recover from the trauma and the damage,'' said Lee, who sent his deputy Lien Chen to Nantou where 504 people have lost their lives.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin expressed grief over the loss of life in the earthquake and offered assistance to the island, which China considers a rebel province.

Zemin said the deaths and heavy property losses to their Taiwanese compatriots had ``hurt the hearts of the people on the mainland as the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan straits are as closely linked as flesh and blood.''

According to official records, the last quake of such magnitude, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, hit Taiwan in 1906, killing 1,258 people.

Tremors of Tuesday's quake were also felt in Hong Kong with some local residents fleeing onto thestreets, but there were no reports of damage or injury, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

A number of Hong Kong tower block residents reported to the observatory that they had felt the tremble for a few seconds, which was recorded by the Hong Kong Observatory at 1:49 am local time.