After quake, Taiwan rescuers search for missing, stranded
HUALIEN, Taiwan — Rescuers searched Thursday for missing people and worked to reach hundreds stranded when Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years sent boulders and mud tumbling down mountainsides, blocking roads. Ten people died and more than 1,000 were injured.
The powerful quake struck during the morning rush hour a day earlier, sending schoolchildren rushing outdoors and families fleeing their apartments through windows. The ground floors of some buildings collapsed, leaving them leaning at precarious angles. Though the island is regularly rattled by earthquakes and generally well prepared, authorities did not send out the usual alerts because they were expecting a smaller temblor.
Some 200 residents of Hualien County near the epicenter were staying in temporary shelters, and the main road linking the county to the capital, Taipei, was still closed Thursday afternoon, but much of
Taiwan’s day-to-day life returned to normal.
Nearly 1,100 people were injured in the quake. Of the 10 dead, at least four were killed inside Taroko National Park, a tourist attraction famous for canyons and cliffs in mountainous Hualien, about 90 miles from Taipei. One person was found dead in a damaged building and another was found in the Ho Ren Quarry. Rescuers also retrieved from a hiking trail the body of a man who had severe wounds on his head.
Hundreds of people were stranded when rocks and mud blocked the roads leading to their hotel, campground or worksite — though most were safe while they awaited rescue. It wasn’t clear Thursday if any people were still trapped in buildings.
Liu Zhong-da, a construction worker, said he and his colleague were on their way to work on a road in the national park and were inside a tunnel when the quake hit. A boulder blocked their exit and they were trapped along with some other people.
“We almost got covered up,” Liu said. “No communication could be made (to the outside world).”
Liu, 58, and his colleague were rescued Thursday afternoon and received a quick medical checkup outside the park.
About 60 workers who had been unable to leave a quarry because of damaged roads were also freed, authorities said. Six workers from another quarry were airlifted out.
Some 700 people remain cut off, the vast majority of them employees and guests at a hotel in the national park. Authorities said they were safe and had food and water, and that work to repair the roads to the hotel was nearly finished. Another 10 workers from the same hotel were stranded elsewhere in the park, after most of the others in the group were rescued or managed to walk out.
Authorities said they were unable to contact about 15 people, and their condition was not known. Numbers have fluctuated frequently as authorities have learned of more people in trouble and rescued others.