Taiwan earthquake: Four dead, 145 missing as buildings collapse

AAP
Feb 07, 2018, updated Feb 11, 2021

Several major buildings were toppled at the popular resort. Photo: AP

Rescuers are combing through the rubble of collapsed buildings, some using their hands as they search for about 145 people missing after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the popular Taiwanese tourist city of Hualien on Tuesday night.

At least four people were killed and 225 injured in the quake that hit near the coastal city just before midnight on Tuesday, officials said. The latest figures from government data indicate 145 people are missing.

Many of those were believed to be still trapped inside buildings, including a military hospital, after the quake hit about 22 km northeast of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast.

Aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5.0 could rock the island in the next two weeks, the government said. Japanese, Czech and mainland Chinese nationals were among the injured.

Residents waited and watched anxiously as emergency workers dressed in fluorescent orange and red suits and wearing helmets searched for residents trapped in apartment blocks.

Hualien is home to about 100,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the force of the quake, with around 40,000 homes left without water and around 1900 without power.

Emergency workers surrounded a damaged residential building in the area. Windows had collapsed and the building was wedged into the ground at a 40-degree angle.

Rescuers worked their way around and through the building while residents looked on from behind cordoned-off roads.

“We were still open when it happened,” said Lin Ching-wen, who operates a restaurant near the military hospital.