Taiwanese Ambassador to Haiti Hsu Mien-sheng (徐勉生) sustained a bone fracture during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday, and one Taiwanese national was still unaccounted for as of press time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The two-story Republic of China embassy in Port-au-Prince was also damaged, ministry deputy spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
MOFA personnel from the neighboring Dominican Republic embassy have been sent to the disaster zone to survey the situation, Chang said.
A 23-member team and two search and rescue dogs departed for Haiti at an 11:40pm yesterday, taking a China Airlines flight via Los Angeles and Miami.
A second wave of rescue missions is also being organized in Taiwan. The Taipei City Fire Department said it had a team of 32 rescue workers and two dogs standing by. The mission can set off at any time upon notification from the ministry, the department said.
MOFA said about 30 Taiwanese nationals, including ministry staffers, 13 members of Taiwan’s overseas technical missions and businesspeople, reside in the Caribbean country.
All five MOFA staffers and one local employee were at work at the embassy building when the temblor struck at 4:52pm local time on Tuesday, during which Hsu hurt his back and chest, while another staffer surnamed Chi sustained a minor back injury, Chang said.
Chang said the Taiwanese government had set up an interagency task force to monitor the situation and coordinate rescue efforts and donations. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) have sent letters of condolences. Taiwan will also offer US$200,000 in cash, the ministry said.
Haiti’s charge d’affaires Mario Chouloute told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview that his country had already asked the international community for assistance, including medical supplies, food, clothes and camping gears.
In the private sector, the Tzu-Chi Foundation’s US headquarters has set up an emergency coordination center to respond to the needs in Haiti after the earthquake.
World Vision said it was still gathering information on damage and casualties and was in close contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Red Cross Society and World Vision Haiti.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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