Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bowed by nature
A residential building leans precipitously Wednesday in Hualien in southern Taiwan after its first floor collapsed in Tuesday’s earthquake. Rescuers were searching it and three other similarly damaged buildings. Firefighters used ladders to reach trapped residents. Officials said six people died in the quake and 76 are unaccounted for. More than 250 people were reportedly injured.
HUALIEN, Taiwan — Rescuers worked Wednesday to free people trapped after an earthquake near Taiwan’s east coast caused several buildings to cave in and tilt dangerously.
Four midsized buildings in worst-hit Hualien County leaned at sharp angles, their lowest floors crushed into mangled heaps of concrete, glass, iron and other debris. Firefighters climbed ladders hoisted against windows to reach residents inside apartments.
The shifting of the buildings after the magnitude 6.4 quake late Tuesday was likely caused by soil liquefaction, when the ground beneath a building loses its solidity under stress such as that caused by an earthquake.
Six people were killed in the quake, while 256 others were injured and 76 unaccounted for, according to the National Fire Agency. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that seven had been killed. The force of the tremor buckled roads and disrupted electricity and water supplies to thousands of households, the fire agency said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck just before midnight Tuesday about 13 miles northeast of Hualien at a relatively shallow depth of about 6.6 miles.