Aftershocks rattle Taiwan
> Quake death toll rises to 10, 58 still missing
TAIPEI: Scores of aftershocks hampered rescue efforts yesterday as emergency personnel combed through collapsed buildings in search of survivors after a powerful earthquake killed at least 10 people near Taiwan’s popular tourist city of Hualien.
The coastal city was hit by a magnitude 6.4 quake just before midnight on Tuesday that also injured 265.
Four buildings collapsed, officials said, and about 58 were still missing.
Nervous residents endured more than 200 aftershocks, including a 5.7 quake late on Wednesday and smaller tremors early yesterday.
Aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5.0 could rock the island over the next two weeks, the government said.
“There were constant aftershocks so I didn’t really dare stay at home,” Hualien resident Yang Yantin said.
“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.”
A witness said people rushed out of a residential building and rescue workers looked up from piles of debris after another strong aftershock rattled the city at around 11am yesterday.
Horns sounded to warn people to leave buildings and chanting from groups of Buddhists could also be heard.
Many of the missing were believed to be trapped in a 12-storey residential building that was tilting at a 45-degree angle.
Tenants and their furniture were flung across their apartments in the damaged building.
More than 600 soldiers and 1,300 police have been deployed to help with the rescue.
The government said three mainland Chinese were among the dead.
Chen Deming, president of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said the mainland was willing to assist with relief efforts, including sending teams.
Rescue workers used ladders and flash lights as they searched for survivors among the rubble yesterday.
More than 800 people sought refuge in shelters overnight, many too scared to stay in their homes as aftershocks stirred panic.
Hualien is home to about 100,000 people. – Reuters