More bodies were extricated from the collapsed Weiguan Jinlong complex in Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康) yesterday, raising the death toll from Saturday’s earthquake to 47.
The 17-story complex, which consisted of four buildings divided into nine residential sections, has been the main source of casualties from the magnitude 6.4 quake.
Among the 47 people killed in the quake, 45 were found in the Weiguan Jinlong ruins.
Photo: Anthony Wallace, AFP
Rescuers yesterday continued the painstaking search for at least 90 people who remain unaccounted for, all believed to be trapped in the collapsed complex.
At midnight yesterday, they were encouraged to hear a person inside knocking on the wall.
While that person has yet to be found, five more bodies were retrieved and identified yesterday, including a married couple, a woman and two Kun Shan University students.
Photo: Anthony Wallace, AFP
The students were identified as Tsai Meng-chia (蔡孟家) and Huang Juo-hsin (黃若欣).
Rescue workers said that Tsai appeared to have tried to protect his girlfriend, as his body was on top of hers.
As of press time last night, statistics from the Central Emergency Operations Center showed that the quake had injured 548 people, including 84 who have been hospitalized.
Tainan Deputy Mayor Tseng Hsu-cheng (曾旭正) said in a briefing to relatives of the missing that rescuers would stop trying to retrieve the bodies that showed no vital signs, but would mark their locations so they could be extricated later.
It was a measure that they have to take at this point, Tseng said.
“Every time we find a body, the excavator has to stop operating and search teams have to find a way to bring the body out of the building. The entire process, on average, takes about three to four hours,” he said.
“We have to take this measure to avoid further delays in finding possible survivors and rescue efforts could continue uninterrupted,” the deputy mayor said.
In other developments, one of the quake survivors said on social media that renovations in the lower stories of the Weiguan Jinlong complex contributed to its collapse.
The woman, surnamed Cheng (鄭), said on Facebook that all of the beams, columns and walls on the first to fourth floors of buildings A, B and C were removed seven years ago by the owner, a woman surnamed Lan (藍), so she could charge more rent.
Cheng, who posted a photograph and written statement, said the structural changes were reported to local authorities, but were not pursued.
Tainan Civil Engineers’ Association president Cheng Ming-chang (鄭明昌) said that a building’s structure would be weakened if all of the beams, columns and walls were removed from any of the floors.
Judging by the photograph, if what the netizen said was true, then the structural changes should be investigated, he said.
Cheng Ming-chang, who has been assisting in the search-and-rescue operations, said that the association would prepare a structural assessment report on the buildings and submit its observations to prosecutors.
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating the possible use of substandard materials and methods by one of the construction companies that built the Weiguan Jinlong complex.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique