Taiwanese rescue teams increased the intensity of their search for 18 people who were still missing on Friday (5/4) following an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the east coast of the island region.
Meanwhile dozens of followingshocks are still shaking and those trapped are gradually being evacuated to safer places.
An earthquake that struck on Wednesday in the Hualien region, a sparsely populated region in eastern Taiwan, killed 10 people. It also left hundreds of people stranded in the national park when large rocks fell from the mountains, cutting off roads.
Taiwan’s fire brigade put the number of people still missing at 18, including four foreigners previously listed as citizens of India, Canada and Australia whose locations were unknown.
“Six other people are missing on the hiking trail and a 45-member rescue team is trying to contact them,” he added.
Rescue teams have confirmed that regarding 400 people dumped in a luxury hotel in the Taroko Gorge national park are safe and have used helicopters to bring in supplies and evacuate the injured.
Also read: 9 Killed, More than 1,000 Injured in Taiwan’s Strongest Earthquake
“We are expecting a chance of rain today, so our search and rescue colleagues will be equipped with rain gear. “However, the rain increases the risk of falling rocks and landslides, which are currently the biggest challenges we face,” said Su Yu-ming, captain of the Kaohsiung city search and rescue team.
“These factors are unpredictable, which means we cannot be certain of the number of days required for search and rescue operations at this time,” he said.
Meanwhile, around 50 followingshocks rocked Hualien overnight, some of which were felt in the capital Taipei.
Also read: Taiwan Earthquake Victims Continue to Increase
The earthquake occurred a day before Taiwan began a long holiday weekend for the traditional grave-sweeping festival, when Taiwanese return home to tend to ancestral graves.
Taiwan is located near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. More than 100 people died in an earthquake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3-magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.
(CNA/Z-9)
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