HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) — Rescuers searched Thursday for dozens of people still missing a day after Taiwan’s the strongest earthquake for a quarter of a century it damaged buildings, killed 10 people and left others stranded in remote areas.
In the eastern coastal city of Hualien, near the epicenter, workers used an excavator to stabilize the foundation of a damaged building with construction materials as officials took samples from its exterior and chickens pecking among potted plants on its sloping roof.
Mayor Hsu Chen-wei said 48 apartment buildings were damaged in Wednesday’s quake, some leaning at precarious angles and their ground floors crushed.
Some Hualien residents were housed in tents and the main road connecting the county to the capital Taipei was still closed Thursday afternoon, but much of daily life in Taiwan was returning to normal. Some local rail services to Hualien have resumed, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the world’s top computer chip makers, has restarted most operations, the Central News Agency said.
It’s Taiwan regularly shaken by earthquakes and its population is well prepared for them. It also has strict construction requirements to ensure buildings are earthquake resistant.
Hendry Sutrisno, a 30-year-old professor at Hualien Dong Hwa University, spent Wednesday night in a tent with his wife and baby, fearing aftershocks.
“We ran out of the apartment and waited for four to five hours before going back up to get some important things like our wallet. And since then we have remained here to assess the situation,” he said.
Others also said they did not dare to go home because their apartment walls were cracked or they lived on higher floors. Taiwanese Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen visited several earthquake evacuees in a temporary shelter in the morning.
Nearly 1,070 people were injured in the earthquake. Of the 10 dead, at least four were killed in Taroko National Park, a tourist attraction in Hualien County known for canyons and cliffs about 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Taipei. One person was found dead in a damaged building and another was found in the Ho Ren Quarry. Authorities recovered a body from a trail Thursday afternoon.
About 700 people were either still missing or stranded on Thursday, including more than 600 who were stranded at a hotel called Silks Place Taroko, the National Fire Agency said. Authorities said staff and guests were safe and had food and water, and that work to repair roads to the hotel was nearing completion.
Others reported to be stranded, including two dozen hikers, about 20 campers and six students, are also safe, they said.
Authorities also said about 60 workers who had been unable to leave the quarry due to blocked and damaged roads had been released. The Central News Agency reported that everyone was able to leave the mountain safely around noon. Six workers from another quarry were taken out by helicopter.
Authorities have been unable to contact about 40 people, mostly hotel employees, who were previously reported to be in the national park.
After the quake, local television showed neighbors and rescuers hoisting residents out of windows and onto the street from damaged buildings where the shaking had closed doors. It was unclear Thursday if there were people still trapped in buildings.
The earthquake and aftershocks triggered landslides and damaged roads, bridges and tunnels. The National Legislature and parts of Taipei’s main airport sustained minor damage.
The earthquake was Taiwan’s strongest in 25 years. Local authorities measured the initial magnitude of the quake as 7.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.4.
Huang Xiao-en was in her apartment when the earthquake struck. “At first, the building swayed sideways, and then it shook up and down,” Huang said.
The Central Meteorological Administration recorded more than 300 aftershocks from Wednesday morning to Thursday.
The economic losses caused by the earthquake are not yet clear. The self-governing island is the leading manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticated computer chips and other high-tech items that are sensitive to seismic events.
Hualien it was last struck by a deadly earthquake in 2018, which killed 17 people and demolished a historic hotel. Taiwan’s worst recent earthquake struck on September 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.7 quake that killed 2,400, injured about 100,000 and destroyed thousands of buildings.
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This story has been corrected to say Huang was in “her” apartment, not “his.”
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Leung reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press video reporter Taijing Wu contributed to this report.
