The death toll from the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that rattled the nation on Sunday rose to four yesterday after two more victims were confirmed dead, the Central Emergency Operation Center said.
On Sunday, the center said that a 54-year-old man, surnamed Liu (劉), and a 50-year-old man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), were killed by falling rocks in Chiayi County and Nantou County’s Shueili Township (水里) respectively.
The center said that a 69-year-old man, surnamed Liang (梁), and a 35-year-old man, surnamed Yang (楊), were also killed as a result of the earthquake.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
Liang was reportedly hit by falling rocks while traveling in Nantou County’s Lugu Township (鹿谷).
He was pronounced dead early yesterday morning.
Yang was fishing in a river in Jhushan Township (竹山) when the earthquake struck.
Rescuers first found his backpack and other personal belongings yesterday morning and his body in the debris at 12:16pm.
As of 5pm yesterday, four people had been confirmed dead and 19 were injured by the earthquake.
Meanwhile, about 50 residents trapped in Dili Village (地利) in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義) were able to leave the area after the Directorate-General of Highways cleared part of the Dili section of Highway 16 yesterday afternoon.
The Ministry of Education said that 160 schools were damaged by the earthquake, with estimated losses exceeding NT$12.35 million (US$410,000).
Lugu Junior High School in Nantou County, which was rebuilt after the 921 Earthquake in 1999, was closed yesterday due to severe damage.
However, many students and teachers voluntarily returned to the school to clean up the debris.
“All our wonderful memories are on this campus. I really wanted to graduate from here,” a female student said in tears.
Seismology experts cautioned that more earthquakes exceeding magnitude 6 could occur in Nantou County in the next few months.
“The epicenters of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake on March 27 and the one on Sunday were only about 4.2km apart,” Central Weather Bureau Seismology Center director Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋) said. “The causes of these two earthquakes were very similar as well.”
Though the 921 Earthquake and Sunday’s earthquake happened on different fault lines, the bureau said that the two quakes were related.
Hongey Chen (陳宏宇), a professor of geology at National Taiwan University, said that a number of earthquakes since the 921 Earthquake had created of a decollement zone, a boundary separating deformed strata from underlying strata which are not similarly deformed.
“The energy generated by the compression of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate has converged in this decollement [a gliding plane between two rock masses] zone,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Interchange Association, Japan, said its Taipei Office Director Sumio Tarui has extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
Tarui sent a letter to Association of East Asian Relations Chairman Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) to express sympathy over the earthquake, the de facto Japanese consular office said in a statement yesterday.
Tarui also offered his best wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured, the Interchange Association said.
China has also expressed sympathy.
Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) said that Chinese people were concerned about the deaths and damage caused by the quake.
“We send regards to the Taiwanese people affected by the temblor and extend condolences to the families of those killed in the earthquake,” Fan said.
“We hope that the residents of quake-affected areas can overcome the hardships caused by the disaster and resume their normal lives as soon as possible,” Fan said.
China is willing to lend a helping hand if Taiwan needs any assistance in its relief or rehabilitation efforts, she added.
Additional reporting by CNA
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from