This is the heartwarming moment midwives rushed to protect newborn babies during an earthquake that killed at least nine people in Taiwan on Wednesday.

The nurses felt the tremors then quickly pushed the cradles together and used their bodies to prevent them from rolling across the floor.

CCTV cameras in the maternity ward of the Listen Care maternity hospital in Zhubei, Hsinchu County, recorded the touching display of selflessness from the women, who stayed inside the building instead of rushing outside to safety.

Rescue teams are still searching for missing residents with more than 1,000 believed to have been injured in the natural disaster. Officials said some 127 people are trapped in collapsed tunnels and on mountainous roads along the rugged coastline.

Dozens of buildings suffered severe damage and were deemed structurally unsafe following the tremors and aftershocks in Hualien, the epicentre of the magnitude 7.4 quake.

Officials said the earthquake struck at around 7.58 am local time off the east coast of the country triggering tsunami warnings in Taiwan and neighbouring Japan and the Philippines. The epicentre was around 18 kilometers (11 miles) south of the city of Hualien.

Taiwan's national fire agency said that at least nine people have died.