As questions continue to grow over whether a lack of structural integrity contributed to the building’s collapse, Taiwanese president-elect Tsai Ing-wen said during a visit to the affected area in Tainan said her administration would make safety checks of old buildings a top priority, to ensure they can withstand earthquakes which occur frequently in Taiwan.
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At least 38 people have died, and more than 200 were rescued from the rubble, but another 100 people are believed to be still buried under the debris.
Thirtyseven people have been killed but the local mayor says that number’s likely to rise.
The quake struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar – the Lunar New Year.
Liu Shih-chung, Tainan city government deputy secretary general, said an arrest warrant had been issued for Lin Ming-hui, the Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building’s developer, and two others.
The emergency center in Tainan, the worst-hit city, estimated that 132 people were still missing more than 24 hours after the magnitude-6.4 quake struck at dawn Saturday.
Many are suggesting that these cans were used as a cheap filler in the building’s construction, and this might have had some role in the collapse of the building in the quake.
“If there are still people breathing in there and they are harmed now after surviving for days, that would be the greatest tragedy”, said Mao Jiecheng, a chef from Taipei.
Rescuers said Tsao was found under the body of her husband, who had shielded her from a collapsed beam, Taiwan’s government-run Central News Agency reported. Both were trapped on the fifth floor of the Wei Guan building toppled by the strong quake on Saturday. It took rescuers eight hours to get Huang out, hei said. “You couldn’t even tell where the ceiling was”, a 15-year-old survivor, only identified by his surname, Hu, said on EBC Television. “I told my son not to buy an apartment here; it was suspiciously cheap”.
Chen, with consciousness and stable emotions, was immediately sent to hospital.
Today, prosecutors ordered the arrest of the former chairman of the now-defunct Weiguan company and two other executives, on charges of professional negligence.
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There have been several dramatic rescues, but authorities are losing hope of digging out more people alive. “He worries about me being single and lonely and that no one is taking care of me”.
