Survivors pulled from building 2 days after quake
More than 100 believed under debris
TAINAN, Taiwan — At least four people, including an 8-year-old girl, were rescued Monday from a highrise Taiwanese apartment building toppled by a powerful quake two days earlier, as frustration grew among families waiting for searchers to reach their buried loved ones.
More than 100 people are believed to still be under the debris in a disaster that struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar — the Lunar New Year.
Saturday’s quake killed at least 38 people in Tainan city in southern Taiwan, all but two of them in the collapse of the 17-story building. Even though the 6.4-magnitude quake was shallow, few buildings were reported to have been damaged, which experts said was because Taiwan’s building standards are high.
Authorities have managed to rescue more than 170 people — the vast majority in the immediate hours after the quake — from the folded building using information about the building layout and the possible location of those trapped.
Five survivors were believed to have been pulled out on Sunday, and at least four on Monday. One of them, Tsao Wei-ling, called out “Here I am” as rescuers dug through to find her, Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Corp. reported.
She was found under the body of her husband, who had shielded her from a collapsed beam, the government-run Central News Agency reported. Tsao’s husband and 2-year-son were found dead, and five other members of the fam- ily remained unaccounted for, it said.
Teams also rescued on Monday a 42-year-old man from the building, and, later, an 8-year-old girl, who had been trapped for more than 61 hours.
Mayor Lai Ching-te told reporters he brief ly exchanged words with the girl, Lin Su-chin.
“She is awake, but looks dehydrated, lost some temperature but she’s awake and her blood pressure is OK,” he said. “I asked her if there’s anything wrong with her body. She shook her head.”
Shortly afterward, rescue workers also pulled out a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, identified as Chen Mei-jih, who had been trapped on what was the building’s fifth floor.