Rescue efforts in Taiwan hampered by 220 aftershocks
Print Edition
SCORES of aftershocks hampered rescue efforts in Taiwan yesterday as emergency personnel combed collapsed buildings in search of survivors after a powerful earthquake killed at least 10 people, including four tourists from China’s mainland.
The magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit coastal Hualien County near the tourist city of Hualien on Tuesday just before midnight. Four buildings collapsed, 270 people were injured and seven were still missing.
Rescuers stepped up efforts at one of the worst-hit structures, a 12-story building that housed apartments and a small hotel. Steel girders propped up the heavily leaning structure to keep it from collapsing further, with the lower floors having already caved in.
“Everyone was surprised,” said Huang Chang Po, the 58-year-old owner of a unit in the building, built in 1994. “We have strong earthquakes all the time in Hualien and it’s really bizarre that our building collapsed.”
More than 220 aftershocks followed the main quake, including a 5.7 quake late on Wednesday.
“I didn’t really dare stay at home,” said Hualien resident Yang Yantin. “The area around my house is actually not that bad, the houses are all OK but, because of the aftershocks, I don’t really want to stay there.”
Lin Tzu Wei, an official at Taiwan’s weather bureau, said continued vigilance of seismic activity was needed. “We have not seen a sign of a slowdown yet,” he said. “We need to continue to monitor the situation for one to two days.”
More than 600 soldiers and 1,300 police spread out to help the rescue effort, along with a team from Japan. As many as 150 people were initially feared missing in the rubble.
Three of the mainland tourists confirmed dead, all female, were found in the damaged Yun Men Tusi Ti building. A fourth female tourist was rescued from the same building on Wednesday, but was declared dead that evening. Rescuers said five other mainland tourists were still trapped in the building, four adults and one child.
Chen Deming, president of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said the mainland was willing to help with relief efforts, such as sending teams to the island. He added that Taiwan authorities had declined the mainland’s offer.
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said mainland officials would keep close contact with those in Hualien and assist mainland families of the dead to go to Taiwan.
The Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide 1 million yuan (US$158,270) for rescue operations, saying that it was ready to send rescue teams to Taiwan.
Other mainland authorities such as the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, Fujian Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also said they would each donate 1 million yuan to Hualien.
Hualien, whose rugged Pacific coastline and picturesque Taroko Gorge park are a major tourist draw, is home to about 100,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the quake, leaving large cracks in major roads.
“I’ve never experienced an earthquake but I’d heard people say there were often earthquakes here, so at first I didn’t react,” said tourist Zhang Hongcong. “But later when all the lights started smashing — the floor was covered in glass — that is when I realized it was serious.”
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. More than 100 people were killed in a quake in Taiwan in 2016, and in 1999, a quake of magnitude 7.6 killed over 2,000 people.
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