FOR DOZENS TRAPPED IN BUILDINGS AFTER DEADLY QUAKE ROCKS TAIWAN TOURIST CITY
RESCUERS in Taiwan were today combing the rubble of collapsed buildings for dozens of people missing after a strong earthquake killed at least six in the tourist city of Hualien.
The magnitude 6.4 quake hit just before midnight. Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said 256 people were injured with 88 unaccounted for.
Four buildings collapsed and images from the scene showed one being held up by steel girders as it teetered on the edge of falling. Many people were believed trapped in the buildings. The bottom three floors of the Marshal Hotel, caved in and rescuers pulled a man out alive, officials said.
The survivor, named as Chen Ming-hui, was in the basement and had been able to call rescuers with his mobile phone, Taiwan News reported.
Mainland Chinese, Czech, Japanese, Singaporean and South Korean nationals were among the injured. British tourists were caught up in the chaos, with three women from the UK pictured sitting outside a collapsed building. A restaurant manager, Lin Ching-wen said: “We were still open. I grabbed my wife and children and we ran out and tried to rescue people.”
The quake hit about 14 miles north-east of Hualien, a city of about 100,000 people on the east coast, and was followed by aftershocks. President Tsai Ingwen visited the scene to help direct the rescue. Some 40,000 homes were left without water and about 1,900 without power.