TAINAN, Taiwan: Two people were pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment complex in Taiwan Monday, more than 50 hours after it was felled by a powerful quake, as rescuers scrabbled to find 100 more still missing.
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Rescue efforts are now focused on the wreckage of a 17-storey building, where more than 100 people are suspected to be buried deep under the rubble.
The quake struck at about 4am (8pm Irish time) on Saturday at the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday, with nearly all the dead found in Tainan’s toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building.
Before that, rescuers saved a woman who was partly shielded by her dead husband, on the seventh floor of the Wei Guan building.
Family members of the missing are becoming frustrated with the lack of information.
In 1999, Taiwan had already experienced a magnitude-7.6 quake leaving nearly 2,000 casualties.
Rescuers said they have identified several other signs of life inside the building and are searching through the rubble for more survivors.
Victims continue to be pulled out of the wreckage of a 17 story building which collapsed from the 6.4 magnitude natural disaster, which struck 4 a.m. on February 6, according to Reuters.
Questions have been raised over the construction of the building in the 1990s, however city officials have said it is too early to be certain if poor construction was a factor in the collapse. Though the building was not listed as one of Taiwan’s unsafe structure, Chen Wei-zen, Taiwan’s interior minister, promised that an investigation will soon be conducted regarding the issue.
Taiwan’s president-elect today visited a hospital treating people injured in the natural disaster. He was sent to hospital for treatment but may have to undergo amputation for injuries on the left leg.
Liu called out to rescuers who found the family and drilled into the rubble to get them out.
The head of the Central Weather Bureau’s Earthquake Forecast Center said the quake’s devastating effects on Tainan City were due to a combination of geologic factors and structural factors in the city’s buildings.
Japanese Cabinet Chief Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced Monday that Japan will donate US$1 million via its Red Cross to Taiwan to help with post-earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts.
“Many people are still trapped and our hearts are sinking”, said Ma.
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On this Chinese New Years Day, traditional nationwide celebrations are canceled.
