Wed, Sep 22, 1999 page3

• Dozens still trapped beneath the hotel rubble

  SUNGSHAN COLLAPSE Moments after a massive earthquake hit the island, a 12-story building in downtown Taipei collapsed, killing three and injuring 113. Some 60 people remain unaccounted for

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The earthquake that rocked Taiwan yesterday morning killed four and injured 279 in Taipei City, as of 9pm yesterday.

  The heaviest casualties occurred in the Tunghsing Building (東興大樓) on Pateh Road in the Sungshan district. The collapse of the 12-story structure killed three people and around 60 people remain trapped or missing.

  In Taipei County, the most serious damage occurred in Hsinchuang where a 12-story building collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring around 160.

  

  Moments after being pulled from the rubble in the Sungshan district, a woman, seriously injured, is lowered to the ground in a cherry picker.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  The earthquake hit the 16-year-old Tunghsing building -- which houses a bank, an apartment complex and a hotel -- hard. The quake caused the bottom stories of the building to fold and collapse, sending the rest of the badly-damaged structure falling against an adjacent building.

  Hsu Wen-sheng (許文生), an employee at an adjacent building, the Li-chien Hotel (立建賓館), was there when it happened.

  "As soon as the shaking started, I went up to the roof to discover that the building had collapsed, sending dust everywhere," Hsu said. "Then I heard people shouting `help.' I used my flashlight to try to signal to them -- only to see people (trapped in the building) wave a white cloth for assistance. But all I could do was signal them with my flashlight -- to let them know that at least people were aware of their situation. I also saw some people trying to climb out of the tilted building, but gas was already leaking out."

  

  A young woman is helped from the collapsed building in Sungshan District.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  The gas leakage ignited a fire that was not under control until 7am, police said.

  Over 80 people were rescued from the collapsed building within the first hour, according to Taipei City Deputy Mayor Ou Chin-der (歐晉德). By 7pm yesterday, 113 people had been rescued, although three people had later died in hospital.

  Around 60 people remain trapped in the wreckage, police said.

  

  With hospitals filled to overflowing, injured quake victims in Taichung County are treated in a parking lot.

  PHOTO: KUO RUEI-CHENG, LIBERTY TIMES

  Relatives and friends of people trapped or missing inside the building gathered nearby.

  "We lived in the fifth floor," a woman said, almost breaking down in the arms of family members who had survived the disaster.

  "[My daughter] is still inside. She still hasn't gotten out."

  Lu Mei-yi (呂美怡), a graduate student, gazed anxiously at a list of names of casualties who had already been dispatched to local hospitals. She was looking for a friend who was believed to be still in the wreckage.

  "I couldn't find him," she said.

  For Lin Chin-lien (林金鍊) , a 65-year-old survivor of the building collapse, there was good news.

  "All of my five family members were saved," he said. "I was trapped under a wardrobe in the corner [of the room], unable to move. And my wife couldn't move, either. And the water from the fire hose [being used to douse fires in the wreckage] hit me like a waterfall, pulling me down. But I finally managed to push away the wardrobe and climbed up two floors to escape. It's a relief to know that all of my family finally escaped."

  Some residents said that recent renovation work at the First Commercial Bank (第一商業銀行) -- which was located on the first and second floors of the building -- involved the knocking out of some pillars. They said the work may have endangered the structure of the building.

  However, civil engineers who completed preliminary investigations following the quake said further investigation is needed to determine the cause of the building's collapse.

  Chuang Chung-peng (莊忠鵬), chairman of the appraisal committee at the Taipei Civil Engineering Technicians' Association, examined the first level of the basement of the building yesterday morning.

  He said that the first four floors were squeezed into the first level of the basement.

  The city government set up a disaster command center at the city's fire department, with a crisis management center established at the nearby Sungshan District Police Station.

  City officials also arranged for residents of the collapsed building to set up lodgings at the Sungshan Elementary School, the Tzuai Temple and the Sungshan District Office. The Hyatt Hotel has also offered 30 rooms for residents of the building on a temporary basis. The Li-chien Hotel also offered 14 rooms for residents to use.

  Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- who arrived at the crisis management center less than 30 minutes after the quake struck -- said the city team would do its best to try to rescue people still trapped in the wreckage.

  "We will not give up any opportunity to save anyone who might have survived," Ma said.

  Meanwhile, the most serious building collapse in the Taipei County area -- a 12-story residential building, located on Mingan Road in Hsinchuang -- killed 13, including a pregnant woman, and injured around 160, police said. Police said that about 30 people remained trapped in the wreckage, as of 10pm yesterday.
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