The earthquake that rocked Taiwan yesterday morning killed four and injured 279 in Taipei City, as of 9pm yesterday.
The heaviest casualties occurred in the Tunghsing Building (
In Taipei County, the most serious damage occurred in Hsinchuang where a 12-story building collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring around 160.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The earthquake hit the 16-year-old Tunghsing building -- which houses a bank, an apartment complex and a hotel -- hard. The quake caused the bottom stories of the building to fold and collapse, sending the rest of the badly-damaged structure falling against an adjacent building.
Hsu Wen-sheng (
"As soon as the shaking started, I went up to the roof to discover that the building had collapsed, sending dust everywhere," Hsu said. "Then I heard people shouting `help.' I used my flashlight to try to signal to them -- only to see people (trapped in the building) wave a white cloth for assistance. But all I could do was signal them with my flashlight -- to let them know that at least people were aware of their situation. I also saw some people trying to climb out of the tilted building, but gas was already leaking out."
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The gas leakage ignited a fire that was not under control until 7am, police said.
Over 80 people were rescued from the collapsed building within the first hour, according to Taipei City Deputy Mayor Ou Chin-der (
Around 60 people remain trapped in the wreckage, police said.
PHOTO: KUO RUEI-CHENG, LIBERTY TIMES
Relatives and friends of people trapped or missing inside the building gathered nearby.
"We lived in the fifth floor," a woman said, almost breaking down in the arms of family members who had survived the disaster.
"[My daughter] is still inside. She still hasn't gotten out."
Lu Mei-yi (
"I couldn't find him," she said.
For Lin Chin-lien (
"All of my five family members were saved," he said. "I was trapped under a wardrobe in the corner [of the room], unable to move. And my wife couldn't move, either. And the water from the fire hose [being used to douse fires in the wreckage] hit me like a waterfall, pulling me down. But I finally managed to push away the wardrobe and climbed up two floors to escape. It's a relief to know that all of my family finally escaped."
Some residents said that recent renovation work at the First Commercial Bank (
However, civil engineers who completed preliminary investigations following the quake said further investigation is needed to determine the cause of the building's collapse.
Chuang Chung-peng (
He said that the first four floors were squeezed into the first level of the basement.
The city government set up a disaster command center at the city's fire department, with a crisis management center established at the nearby Sungshan District Police Station.
City officials also arranged for residents of the collapsed building to set up lodgings at the Sungshan Elementary School, the Tzuai Temple and the Sungshan District Office. The Hyatt Hotel has also offered 30 rooms for residents of the building on a temporary basis. The Li-chien Hotel also offered 14 rooms for residents to use.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"We will not give up any opportunity to save anyone who might have survived," Ma said.
Meanwhile, the most serious building collapse in the Taipei County area -- a 12-story residential building, located on Mingan Road in Hsinchuang -- killed 13, including a pregnant woman, and injured around 160, police said. Police said that about 30 people remained trapped in the wreckage, as of 10pm yesterday.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese