Two people have been pulled alive from the ruins of an apartment building two days after it collapsed in a powerful natural disaster in Tainan City in Taiwan.
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One of them, Tsao Wei-ling, called out “Here I am” as rescuers dug through to find her, Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The quake struck at about 4am on Saturday at the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday, with nearly all the dead found in the toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in Tainan.
The male survivor was named by officials as 40-year-old Lee Tsong-tian – rescuers told how they had been trying to dig him out of the rubble for more than 20 hours but were unable to do so as he was trapped by his leg. Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te said rescuers were able to reach many people by using information from residents who got out about the possible locations of those still inside. Another infant – a six month old – was pulled out alive with her father’s dead body still hugging her. The baby died later at the hospital.
Several survivors were pulled from the rubble today, more than 24 hours after the quake struck, as rescuers urged those still trapped to stay strong.
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images A crane is used in the rescue and search operations at the site, where more than 100 people are still believed to be trapped. Dozens of buildings were declared unsafe, forcing mass evacuations and the closure of markets, banks and other facilities. Though the building was not listed as one of Taiwan’s risky structure, Chen Wei-zen, Taiwan’s interior minister, promised that an investigation will soon be conducted regarding the issue.
“The smell of gas was thick in the air, and I was anxious that I would be killed by an explosion if not crushed to death in the collapsed building”, she told CNA.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, a politician of the ruling Kuomintang party who is stepping down after eight years as required by law, visited survivors in the hospital on Monday, as did his successor, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. Even though the 6.4-magnitude quake was shallow, few buildings were damaged, which experts said was because Taiwan’s building standards are high. More than 100 remained buried in the building’s rubble.
“The natural disaster may be unlikely to dramatically effect chip-making plants in Taiwan”, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anand Srinivasan and Eshani Guptewrote in a report.
Tainan mayor William Lai said Tsao and Li were the only signs of life at present, although rescuers were continuing to look for others.
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Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Sunday conveyed condolences to the victims in the quake.
