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Taiwan Earthquake: Rescuers search for missing or stranded people

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.

Quick Read

  • Search and Rescue: Efforts are underway to find missing individuals and assist those stranded due to a major earthquake in Taiwan, the strongest in 25 years, causing landslides and road blockages.
  • Casualties: The quake resulted in 10 deaths and over 1,000 injuries, with significant damage in areas like Taroko National Park.
  • Impact on Infrastructure: Roads to Hualien County near the epicenter remain closed, and some buildings have sustained severe damage, with efforts to stabilize and assess the structures ongoing.
  • Community Response: Many residents sought refuge in temporary shelters, while services like local rail transport to Hualien and operations at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are gradually resuming.
  • Tourist and Worker Struggles: Hundreds were left stranded in areas like Taroko National Park due to debris blocking exits, with rescue operations ongoing for those trapped or cut off.
  • Government and Public Response: Authorities and community members are actively involved in rescue and relief efforts, with temporary shelters set up for those displaced by the quake.
  • Historical Context: This quake is a reminder of Taiwan’s vulnerability to seismic activity, echoing past events like the devastating 1999 earthquake that had significant human and structural tolls.

The Associated Press has the story:

Taiwan Earthquake: Rescuers search for missing or stranded people

Newslooks- HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) —

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.

Two trapped workers of Taroko National Park have a physical examination after being rescued in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Rescuers are searching for dozens of people still missing a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

The powerful quake struck during the morning rush hour a day earlier, sending schoolchildren rushing outdoors and families fleeing their apartments through the 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.

A trapped tourist of Taroko National Park walks to an ambulance after being rescued in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Rescuers are searching for dozens of people still missing a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

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. Some local rail service to Hualien resumed, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the world’s most important manufacturers of computer chips, restarted most operations, the Central News Agency reported.

Rocks are on the road at the entrance of Taroko National Park in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. The strongest earthquake in a quarter-century has rocked Taiwan during the morning rush hour. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

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 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Taipei. One person was found dead in a damaged building and another was found in the Ho Ren Quarry. Rescuers also carried out the body of a man, who had severe wounds on his head, from a hiking trail.

In this photo released by the Hualien Fire Department, firefighters and quarry workers evacuate a body from the Ho Ren Quarry a day after a powerful earthquake struck in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Rescuers are searching for people out of contact a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century damaged buildings, caused multiple rockslides and killed several people. (Hualien Fire Department via AP)

Hundreds of people were stranded when rocks and mud blocked the roads leading to their hotel, campground or work site — 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 58-year-old construction worker, 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.

A structural engineer takes samples from a leaning building a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

“We almost got covered up,” Liu said. “No communication could be made (to the outside world).” Liu 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.

Debris surrounds a titled building a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

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.

Residents rest at a shelter a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Rescuers are searching for people out of contact a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century damaged buildings, caused multiple rockslides and killed several people. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

In the city of Hualien on Thursday, workers used an excavator to stabilize the base of a damaged building, as chickens pecked among potted plants on the flat roof slanting at a severe angle.

Mayor Hsu Chen-wei previously said 48 residential buildings were damaged in the quake. Hendri Sutrisno, a 30-year-old professor at Hualien Dong Hwa University, spent Wednesday night in a tent inside a shelter with his wife and baby, fearing aftershocks.

A building is seen partially collapsed, a day after a powerful earthquake struck the city, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

“We ran out of the apartment and waited for four to five hours before we went up again to grab some important stuff such as our wallet. And then we’re staying here ever since to assess the situation,” he said.

Others also said they didn’t dare to go home because the walls of their apartments were cracked or they lived on higher floors. Taiwanese Premier Chen Chien-jen visited some earthquake evacuees in the morning at a temporary shelter.

The map above locates the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday, April 3 and plots its shake intensity. (AP Digital Embed)

The earthquake was the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years, measured at magnitude 7.4 by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Huang Shiao-en was in her apartment when the quake struck. “At first the building was swinging side to side, and then it shook up and down,” she said.

The chart above plots the strongest earthquakes each day that occurred in Taiwan since 1990. (AP Digital Embed)

The Central Weather Administration recorded more than 400 aftershocks from Wednesday morning into Thursday night. The national legislature and sections of Taipei’s main airport suffered minor damage.

Hualien was last struck by a deadly quake in 2018 which killed 17 people and brought down a historic hotel. Taiwan’s worst recent earthquake struck on Sept. 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.7 temblor that caused 2,400 deaths, injured around 100,000 and destroyed thousands of buildings.

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