Rescue efforts continued yesterday at Taroko National Park and the Central Cross-Island Highway following Wednesday’s earthquake, with the death toll increasing by two to 12, in addition to 1,133 injured, 636 trapped and eight missing.
As of 9pm, the center said it had recovered three missing people, two of whom who were near Luoshao Cihui Temple (洛韶慈惠堂).
Although two bodies were discovered along the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko yesterday, the Central Emergency Operations Center said the official death toll still stands at 10 until they can be extricated.
Photo courtesy of the rescue team via CNA
Earlier yesterday, members of the Special Search and Rescue Division from the Pingtung, Taitung and Hualien county fire departments, as well as Tainan, rescued nine people trapped in the Tunnel of Nine Turns (九曲洞) in Taroko.
The military also dispatched soldiers to assist in clearing the path to Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑), where six people had been reported missing.
Of the six, a man and a woman were found partly buried under rocks at the trail’s 0.5km mark at 9:25am yesterday without signs of life.
Photo: AFP, Central Emergency Operations Center
Rescuers were attempting to extricate their bodies, but had to postpone work to today due to poor weather and continuing aftershocks.
Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said the ministry had instructed Nantou County rescue teams to advance with road clearing efforts to provide timely relief to trapped people.
Crews hoped to clear up to the 161km mark of Provincial Highway No. 8 by last night, he said.
Photo: Daniel Cent, EPA-EFE
Most of the people trapped in the area were at the Silks Place Taroko Hotel, the Tiansiang Community Center, Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) and Taiwan Power Co (台電) branch offices in Tiansiang (天祥), Sibao Elementary School, Tiansiang Catholic Church, Siangde Temple (祥德寺) and the Lyushuei (綠水) camping site, Lin said.
The government has been air-dropping food, water, medicine and other necessities into trapped areas, while other groups have been transporting goods to Sibao Elementary School on foot, he said.
Two Australians are still missing, and the Hualien County Disaster Reaction Center is attempting to locate them using cellphone triangulation, officials said.
Photo: Daniel Cent, EPA-EFE
A Canadian who was reported missing yesterday morning has been found and is safe, they said.
The Highway Bureau said that it is allowing conditional passage for the press, disaster relief materials and heavy machinery, and that residents of Dongao (東澳) and Nanao (南澳) are permitted to use Provincial Highway No. 9.
As of 3pm, the bureau had successfully cleared the roads from Dayuling (大禹嶺) into the Tiansiang region, allowing those trapped in Sibao (西寶) and Tiansiang to be evacuated westward via Taichung.
The bureau had also reached the eastern parts of the Tunnel of Nine Turns, and said it expects to clear a single-lane path from the Heliou (合流) region to Tiansiang from the east side by today.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday that the frequency and magnitude of seismic activity seemed to be decreasing.
CWA data showed that as 8pm yesterday, 535 aftershocks had hit Taiwan, including two exceeding magnitude 6, and 18 ranging from magnitudes 5 to 6.
There had just been two earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above in the past 24 hours: one of magnitude 5.1 at 10:30pm on Thursday and one of magnitude 5.3 at 2:35am yesterday, it said.
Seismology Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) said that quakes were becoming weaker while aftershocks continued to occur as more energy was released.
The possibility of aftershocks between magnitudes 5 and 6 still exists, but a significant earthquake exceeding magnitude 7.2 is unlikely, he said.
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