Rescue teams Taiwan Try to free people trapped in tunnels and remote roads after a powerful attack earthquake The evening before there were ten dead and almost 1,100 injured. “I hope we can use the time today to find all the stranded and missing people,” said Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen.
Dozens of people in the city of Hualien, closest to the epicenter, slept outdoors due to damage to buildings, some of which completely toppled over after the tremors.
Rescue teams know the whereabouts of dozens of people trapped in this county’s road network between mountains and cliffs and full of tunnels leading to the city of Hualien.
In addition, hundreds of people were stranded in a luxury hotel and a youth center because access roads were blocked by landslides.
In the city of Hualien, a glass building became an earthquake landmark when it stood at an impossible 45-degree angle due to the collapse of part of its first floor.
“When the earthquake struck, we immediately evacuated customers and asked them to leave,” Wang Zhong-chang, owner of the nearby Hualien Hero Hotel, told AFP.
Although this island’s strict building regulations appear to have prevented a major disaster, the government urged citizens to remain cautious amid some 300 aftershocks recorded after the first one earthquake.
The worst earthquake since 1999
The national disaster management agency reported that the earthquake caused 10 deaths and 1,099 injuries. The youngest victim, a 65-year-old man, was found on a hiking trail in Hualien County this Thursday.
The quake, estimated at magnitude 7.4 by the United States Geological Survey, is the strongest to hit Taiwan since 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 quake killed 2,400 people.
The shock triggered tsunami warnings in Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, but these were lifted shortly afterwards without major incident.
SPRING: AFP