HUALIEN • Taiwanese rescuers braved aftershocks coursing through a dangerously leaning apartment block that was partially toppled by a deadly earthquake, as the death toll rose to 10.
The eastern coastal city of Hualien was hit on Tuesday by a shallow magnitude 6.4 quake just before midnight that also injured 270 people. Four buildings collapsed, officials said, and those confirmed to have been killed included five locals, four mainland Chinese, and a Filipina.
But the authorities slashed the number of missing from more than 60 people to seven by yesterday evening - five Chinese mainland nationals and a Canadian-Chinese couple.
The major focus for emergency responders remained the Yun Men Tsui Ti apartment block, which also housed the Beauty Stay Hotel on its lower floors. Seven of the dead perished in that building and the remaining missing people are believed to be hotel guests there.
The lower floors of the 12-storey tower pancaked, leaving the structure leaning at a 50-degree angle and sparking fears of an imminent collapse. Despite those risks, rescuers kept going into the building in a desperate search for survivors.
But yesterday's search only recovered three bodies - a Chinese mainland tourist, a local hotel worker and the Filipina.
More than 220 aftershocks followed the main quake, including a 5.7 quake late on Wednesday. They sent the rescue teams scurrying from the building, only for them to return a little later and resume their grim task.
An emergency responder surnamed Lin said it took 14 hours to free the body of the hotel worker, who was partially trapped between the hotel's ceiling and floor.
"We saw his hair and were digging for some time," he said. All the while they could hear the victim's mobile phone ringing, he added.
A Red Cross worker who was at the scene estimated that the building had tilted another 5 per cent overnight, and said that he had little hope of survivors being found on its lowest floors.
Local broadcaster SET TV ran an interview with a man who said he was the husband of one of the mainland Chinese victims. The woman, named as 39-year-old Yu Fei, was travelling with the couple's young son on the island. The son survived the quake with light injuries. She was pulled from the wrecked building and later died in hospital.
"They were travelling on their own as I was busy and couldn't accompany them," the man, who had rushed from the Chinese city of Xiamen, said. "I got in touch with my son, he cried."
More than 800 people sought refuge in shelters overnight, many too scared to stay at home as aftershocks fuelled panic.
"I didn't really dare stay at home," said Hualien resident Yang Yantin. "The area around my house is actually not that bad, the houses are all OK but because of the aftershocks, I don't really want to stay there."
Two Singaporeans were among those in temporary shelter at a Hualien stadium, it was reported on Wednesday. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there were no reports of Singaporeans injured.
The authorities "would not give up" on disaster relief efforts, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said yesterday during her second visit to the quake-hit area.
More than 600 soldiers and 1,300 police spread out to help the rescue effort, along with a team from Japan.
Mr Chen Deming, president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said the mainland was willing to help with relief efforts, such as sending teams to the island. The Taiwan authorities declined, however.
Mr Lin Tzu Wei, an official at Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, said continued vigilance of seismic activity was needed.
"We have not seen a sign of a slowdown yet," he said.
"We need to continue to monitor the situation for one to two days... this is quite a rare event."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
