Scramble as quake kills five, 200 hurt
RESCUE workers pulled survivors and bodies from buildings tilting precariously in the Taiwanese city of Hualien yesterday, after an overnight earthquake killed at least five, injured more than 200 and left dozens missing.
Emergency responders were focusing on a 12-storey apartment block and a nearby hotel, both of which were leaning dangerously after their lower floors pancaked when the 6.4-magnitude quake hit the popular tourist city late on Tuesday.
Local broadcaster TVBS showed rescuers carrying a victim covered in a white sheet from the Marshal Hotel some 14 hours after the quake struck. A walking survivor was rescued a short while later.
In an afternoon update, the national fire agency said at least five people had been killed and 247 injured across the city. But the toll could rise as rescuers discovered further bodies.
There were grave concerns for the badly leaning Yun Tsui residential building, which also housed a restaurant, shops and a hostel.
The national fire agency said 88 people were unaccounted for as of 2pm but it was not immediately clear how many of those were trapped inside buildings.
Dozens of residents – and a pug dog – were rescued with ropes and ladders from the Yun Tsui apartment block overnight. But fire department staff at the site said at least four bodies had been pulled out of the building.
One local resident who lives nearby told how he watched the tower block partially collapse.
“I saw the first floor sink into the ground. Then it sank and tilted further and the fourth floor became the first floor,” said Lu Chih-son, 35, who saw 20 people rescued from the building.
“My family were unhurt but a neighbour was injured in the head and is bleeding. We dare not go back home now. There are many aftershocks and we are worried the house is damaged,” he said.
Chen Chih-wei, 80, said he was sleeping in his apartment on the top floor of the building when the quake struck.
“My bed turned completely vertical. I was sleeping and suddenly I was standing,” he said.
The 80-year-old said he managed to crawl his way to a balcony to wait for rescue, adding that the quake was the strongest he had felt in more than five decades of living in Hualien.
President Tsai Ing-wen visited the apartment block yesterday morning.
“Now is the prime time for our rescue efforts, our first priority is to save people,” she said in a Facebook post.
Four mobile cranes had been brought in on the back of trucks to help prop up the structure, a reporter on the scene said.
The foreign ministry said 17 foreigners sought medical treatment for minor injuries.
The quake hit just before midnight around 21km northeast of Hualien, according to the United States Geological Survey.