2024-04-04 19:01:43
Six miners who had been trapped in a quarry due to the earthquake that hit Taiwan on Wednesday were rescued this Thursday by teams still searching for 101 people trapped in tunnels or isolated mountainous areas.
Taiwan’s civil protection authority released a video of a helicopter carrying out two missions to rescue six workers from a gypsum quarry in Hejen, in the Hualien region, in the east of the island, near the epicenter of the earthquake.
Around 65 people remain trapped in the mining areas of Hualien, although it has not yet been possible to determine whether they were inside or outside the mines at the time of the earthquake.
According to a new report released by authorities, the earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, the most powerful to hit Taiwan in 25 years, caused at least nine deaths and left 1,050 injured.
The previous provisional report already mentioned nine fatalities, more than 900 injured and more than a hundred missing.
Taiwanese authorities are in contact with 101 people trapped in tunnels or isolated mountainous areas of the mountainous area, but are unable to communicate with another 46 people.
A group of 47 hotel staff and 24 tourists remain trapped near a cave in Taroko National Park, although drone footage suggests most are out of danger.
“I hope we can use the time we have today to find all the stranded or missing people and help them recover,” said Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen, after a meeting at a health center in Hualien.
300 replicas
The island has been shaken by more than 300 aftershocks since the first earthquake, and the Government has warned the population of the danger of landslides and falling rocks.
The island’s elected president and current vice-president, William Lai Ching-te, visited Hualien on Wednesday and said that the Government has already allocated 300 million Taiwan dollars (8.64 million euros) to support the region.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes, but strict building regulations and good preparation for natural disasters appear to have prevented a catastrophe on the island.
The earthquake led to the issuing of tsunami warnings in Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, which have since been lifted, and was felt in Shanghai and several provinces along China’s southeast coast, according to Chinese media.
Mainland China and the main island of Taiwan are about 160 kilometers apart.
Taiwan lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the line of seismic faults that encircle the Pacific Ocean and where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The worst earthquake in recent years in Taiwan occurred on September 21, 1999, with a magnitude of 7.7, causing 2,400 deaths and around 100,000 injuries, and destroying thousands of buildings.
2024-04-04 19:01:43