The massive earthquake last September in central Taiwan killed 2,297 people, and about 90 percent of the victims died during the first day of the disaster, government officials said yesterday.
Two-thirds of the victims died in the Sept. 21 tremor because they lost too much blood, were hit by debris or were crushed to death, the state-run Central News Agency quoted health official Huang Hsu-ming as saying.
Most of the other victims were poisoned by gas leaks, suffered fatal burns or suffocated after being buried in the 7.6-magnitude quake that hit central Taiwan, Huang was quoted as saying.
The official said that 56 percent of the victims died within two hours after the 7.6-magnitude quake.
Months after the quake, most estimates put the death toll between 2,300 and 2,400.
The suicide rate has increased since the quake, but officials still need two to three more weeks to determine if the deaths were linked to the tremor, Huang said.
In Japan, most quake-related suicides occured six months after the disaster, Huang said.
Reconstruction work continues in many of the quake-affected regions, but government critics have claimed the work is not only going too slowly, but huge amounts of both budget money and donations have been funneled into the hands of local factions and organized crime groups.
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