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.
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
RSS