HUNDREDS MISSING AFTER HORROR QUAKE
TAIPEI: Dozens of people have been rescued from collapsed road tunnels in Taiwan but hundreds remain missing as the nation counts the cost of Wednesday’s powerful earthquake, which has killed at least nine people and injured nearly 1000 others.
The eastern city of Hualien, 160km south of the capital Taipei, bore the brunt of the 7.4 magnitude quake, with buildings toppling over and others on the edge of collapse.
Fifty people travelling in minibuses along mountainous roads and tunnels that were damaged by the quake remain unaccounted for. Some 70 miners are reported to be trapped in rock quarries.
The national fire agency confirmed at least nine people had died and 963 people had been injured.
The government said many of those trapped had been in vehicles driving through tunnels that collapsed during the tremors.
At least 26 structures have collapsed, mostly in Hualien.
Three hikers were killed by falling rocks at the Dekalun Trail in Taroko National Park, and a truck driver died when his vehicle was crushed by rocks. More than 40 people, mostly tourists, were hurt in the park in Hualien county and hundreds were evacuated.
More than 70 people, including two German citizens, were rescued after being trapped in the collapsed road tunnels that lead to Hualien.
Local TV channels showed bulldozers clearing rocks along the main route to Hualien, a mountain-ringed coastal county of some 300,000 people that has been cut off by landslides. Dozens of people were believed safe but unreachable in areas cut off.
“We must carefully check how many people are trapped and we must rescue them quickly,” president-elect and current Vice-President Lai Ching-te said outside one of the collapsed buildings.
“At present the most important thing, the top priority, is to rescue people,” he said.
Many people spent Wednesday night in tents and other shelters. The quake and aftershocks also caused 24 landslides and damage to 35 roads, bridges and tunnels. Dozens of aftershocks continued to be felt across the island.
Tremors from the initial quake were reported as far away as Shanghai. And the fire department said it expected the death toll to rise in the days ahead.
Taiwanese people are used to earthquakes but this one, the most powerful to hit the island in 25 years, has shocked residents.
“Earthquakes are a common occurrence, and I’ve grown accustomed to them. But today was the first time I was scared to tears,” said Keng Hsien-hsuen, who lives in a fifth-floor apartment in Taipei.
About 87,000 households were left without electricity straight after the quake.
Bullet trains, subway services and flights were suspended while inspections took place, but there were no reports of damage to railway lines or airports.
The earthquake was the strongest to hit the island since 1999, when more than 2400 people died.
The London Times