More than 2,000 Taiwanese tourists have canceled trips to Japan’s Kyushu following a series of earthquakes that have wreaked havoc in Kumamoto Prefecture since Thursday last week, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
As of yesterday, 660 Taiwanese tourists from eight tour groups were traveling in Kyushu. All were reported safe, the bureau said.
The bureau said 2,084 tourists scheduled to travel to Kyushu between now and April 30 have canceled their trips, adding that travel agencies arranging tours are asked to properly handle refunds to clients.
Meanwhile, more Taiwanese tourists who were traveling in Kumamoto Prefecture when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck on Saturday returned to Taiwan yesterday, with some telling reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport how they survived the incident.
One woman said the hotel in which they stayed was so violently shaken by the earthquake that she could barely stand upright.
“It was terrifying. We were then trapped on the mountain. The hotel managed to get our group — all 30 of us — out of the disaster zone using small vehicles,” she said.
Ten Taiwanese tourists were forced to take refuge in a shelter in Aso District as the earthquake suspended access to mountainous areas. The group arrived at Taoyuan airport at about 11pm on Sunday.
A tourist surnamed Hung (洪) said that he was sleeping at a hotel when the earthquake struck.
“I was shaken to the ground soon after I sat up on my bed. My roommate and I held on tight to each other and waited until the quake stopped. After the quake appeared to ease, we left the hotel and sought refuge somewhere else,” he said.
Another tourist surnamed Hsiao (蕭) said her tour group managed to continue the tour after Aso District was struck by the earthquake.
“However, we did not get to see Mount Aso volcano [in Kumamoto Prefecture] because access to the region was damaged,” she said. “We were driven around and eventually returned to Fukuoka. The tour guide then coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and brought us home.”
Taiwanese officials said that seven Taiwanese students trapped on Mount Aso were rescued yesterday.
Taiwan’s representative office in Fukuoka, Japan, embarked on a rescue mission yesterday, sending two minibuses to a hot spring hotel in Aso City, where seven students from New Taipei City-based De Lin Institute of Technology were working as interns under a three-month international internship program.
Due to inclement weather and because main roads and highways leading to the area were blocked after more than 400 earthquakes hit the region last week, the rescue team, along with a teacher from the school, took four hours to reach the hotel and pick up the students.
Upon seeing the teacher, Liu Hsiao-wei (劉小瑋), getting out of the minibus, one student hugged Liu and said he was so touched that he almost cried.
Another student said the past few days “were like a dream.”
Twenty-one Taiwanese students and their families were picked up from universities in Kumamoto and driven to Fukuoka the previous day, officials said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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