Families shelter in tents as rescuers seek people cut off by Taiwan earthquake
Relief workers on Thursday set aside stuffed toys, blankets and baby formula for families sheltering in an elementary school in Hualien, the epicentre of Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century.
“We have all the necessary stuff — blankets, toilet and a place to rest,” said Indonesian Hendri Sutrisno, who occupied a tent with his wife and twomonthold baby.
The 30yearold professor at Hualien’s Dong Hwa University and his family were among more than 100 people who chose to stay in tents set up at an elementary school after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday.
The aftershocks of the earthquake — the biggest since a 7.6 magnitude disaster in 1999 killed 2,400 people — came thick and fast, and by Thursday morning Hualien county had experienced more than 300 rolling tremors.
Mr. Hendri said he and his wife hid under a table with their baby when the first earthquake hit, before grabbing their things and fleeing the building.
“Our worry is when the big aftershocks happen it might be really hard for us to evacuate one more time — especially with the baby,” he said.
“So it will be better, wiser for us to stay here,” he said as the infant slept in a stroller.
Rescue efforts continued elsewhere across the county, with authorities working to reach more than 600 people either trapped in strongly built tunnels or cut off in remote areas — though they were believed to be safe.
Hualien county, on Taiwan’s eastern coast, is home to a network of tunnels that allow drivers to traverse the region’s picturesque mountains.
Roads cut off
The bulk of the people trapped include some in a hotel near Taroko National Park, as well as workers in a nearby tunnel — now completely cut off after a series of landslips that hit the main highway leading to it.
Footage captured by a drone of an opencut tunnel in a mountain released by Taiwan’s National Fire Agency showed people waving, standing unharmed next to damaged vehicles. Authorities had cordoned off a section of Su Hua highway on Thursday, the site of a massive landslip that killed two drivers the day before when they were crushed by falling boulders.
Massive rocks blocked road tunnels, while uprooted trees could be seen on the cliffs by the highway still shrouded with clouds of dust.
The earthquake killed at least 10 people and injured more than 1,060, although authorities did not specify how seriously.
In Hualien’s main city, workers poured concrete at the base of the glassfronted Uranus building — so badly damaged it now tilts at a 45degree angle.
It has now become a symbol for the earthquake but, for 59yearold Chen Hsiuying, it was her home.
Sheltering at the elementary school, she said she was on her way home from work when the earthquake occurred. “If I had gone back earlier, I would have been inside,” the carpenter said. “I still have my belongings in there, such as a photo of my mother,” she said.
More than a dozen people had opted to return home by morning, although many — especially those with children — stayed on in the tents.