Scores still trapped in Taiwan tunnels
TAIWANESE rescuers worked yesterday to reach scores of people trapped in highway tunnels as engineers began a massive clear-up operation a day after the island’s biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century.
Ten people were killed and more than 1 000 injured in Wednesday’s magnitude 7.4 quake, but strict building regulations and widespread public disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe on the island.
Dozens of residents of the worst-hit city, Hualien, spent a night outdoors rather than in apartments still being shaken by aftershocks, and a huge engineering operation was under way to fix damaged roads and prop up tilting buildings.
Dramatic video released yesterday by the island’s Central Emergency Operation Centre showed a helicopter flying two sorties to pluck up six miners trapped in a gypsum quarry in Hualien county, near the epicentre of the quake.
Rescuers knew the whereabouts of dozens more people trapped in a network of strongly built tunnels in the county, a feature of the roads that cut through the scenic mountains and cliffs leading to Hualien City from the north and west.
Hundreds of others were holding out at a luxury hotel and youth activity centre near the Taroko National Park, with roads leading to both blocked by landslides.
“I also hope that we can use today’s time to find all people who are stranded and unaccounted for and help them settle down,” Premier Chen Chien-jen said after a briefing at an emergency operation centre in Hualien.
The island has been shaken by more than 300 strong aftershocks since the first quake, and the government warned people to be wary of landslides or rockfalls if they ventured to the countryside for Qingming, a two-day public holiday that began yesterday. Families traditionally visit the tombs of their ancestors on the holiday to clean the gravesites and burn offerings.
“Do not go to the mountains unless necessary,” warned President Tsai Ing-wen in a late-night message.
The national disaster agency said 10 people had been killed – with the latest casualty found on a hiking trail yesterday – and 1 067 injured in the quake.
Authorities were in contact with more than 600 people trapped in tunnels or cut-off areas, but had lost touch with another 38 – although they were believed to be safe.
At around 4pm, a highway leading to Taroko National Park was cleared. A small group stranded for nearly 30 hours emerged to be greeted by rescue workers handing them water and ushering some to the first aid tent.
“It’s good to be alive!” said David Chen, who works at the luxury Silks Place Taroko Hotel located deeper in the mountains.
In Hualien, a glass-fronted building named Uranas – now tilting at a 45-degree angle after half of its first floor pancaked – has become something of a symbol of the quake.
“When the earthquake happened, we immediately evacuated the guests ... and urged them to leave,” said Wang Zhong-chang, 55, the proprietor of the nearby Hualien Hero Hotel.
Over 100 people chose to sleep outdoors in tents at a shelter set up in an elementary school on Wednesday night as the aftershocks continued.
“Our worry is that when the big aftershocks happen it might be really hard for us to evacuate one more time – especially with the baby,” said Indonesian Hendri Sutrisno, 30, a professor at Donghua University.
He and his wife hid under a table with their infant when the earthquake struck before fleeing their apartment.
Wednesday’s quake was the most severe since 1999, when Taiwan was hit by a magnitude 7.6 temblor.
It killed 2 400 people, the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.
China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, was “paying close attention” to the quake and “willing to provide disaster relief assistance”, state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday.
In Washington, the White House said the US was also prepared to provide “any necessary assistance”.