The number of fatalities after the earthquake that hit Taiwan on April 2 increased to 10 this Thursday, while more than 1,000 were confirmed injured and 600 missing. Daily life returned in several areas, mainly in the capital Taipei, while rescue efforts for people left under the rubble continue in other places.
In Taiwan, rescue teams continue their efforts to find the missing people, hundreds of individuals who would have been trapped after the strongest earthquake in 25 years shook the territory. The death toll rose to ten and the number of injuries to 1,000.
The earthquake, whose magnitude was 7.2 according to the Central Weather Agency (CWA) and 7.4 according to the United States Geological Survey, occurred during the morning rush hour of April 2, around 8 :00 local time. Several buildings suffered structural damage and some partially collapsed.
Although Taiwan is accustomed to tremors and is generally well prepared, authorities did not issue the usual warnings as they expected a smaller quake.
About 200 residents of the city of Hualien, near the epicenter, took shelter in temporary shelters, while the main highway connecting to the capital, Taipei, remained closed on Thursday afternoon.
However, much of daily life in Taiwan returned to normal, with local rail service to Hualien partially resuming and most operations restarted at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the country's leading computer chip makers. world, as reported by the Central News Agency.
According to government reports, nearly 1,100 people were injured in the earthquake and four of the ten fatalities were found inside Taroko National Park, a popular tourist attraction known for its impressive canyons and cliffs in the mountainous Hualien region. approximately 150 kilometers from Taipei.
In addition, one person was found dead in a collapsed building and another in the Ho Ren quarry. Rescuers also recovered the body of a man with serious head injuries on a nature trail.
There are still hundreds of people stranded
The Government of Taiwan asked the population to take extreme care given the possibility of aftershocks being recorded in the coming days, which could be of similar magnitudes to the initial earthquake.
After Tuesday's earthquake, many people were stranded when rocks and landslides blocked roads.
Liu Zhong-da, a 58-year-old construction worker, and his partner were trapped inside a tunnel in the national park when the earthquake hit. A rock blocked their exit, leaving them cut off from the outside.
“He almost buried us,” said Liu, who along with his colleague was rescued on Thursday afternoon and received medical attention, the AP agency reported.
![This photo taken by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on April 4, 2024 shows a person walking next to trees that were damaged in Hualien, after a large earthquake hit eastern Taiwan.](https://s.france24.com/media/display/b94dfd24-f294-11ee-94b5-005056bfb2b6/000_34NK2TM.jpg)
About 60 workers who were trapped in one quarry due to road damage were also rescued, while six employees from another quarry were airlifted.
About 700 people remain isolated, most of them employees and guests of a hotel in the national park. Authorities assured them that they were safe, with enough food and water, and that repairs to the roads to the hotel were almost complete. However, 10 other workers from the same hotel were stranded in different parts of the park.
Authorities reported that they had not been able to contact about 15 people, whose condition was unknown. However, the figures are frequently updated as authorities receive reports of rescue operations.
The biggest earthquake in 25 years
The recent earthquake was the most intense that Taiwan has suffered since September 21, 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 tremor shook the country and killed more than 2,400 people, while leaving around 11,300 people injured. .
Taiwan sits at the confluence of the Philippine and Eurasian plates, so earthquakes are frequent on the island.
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Hualien suffered a deadly earthquake in 2018 that killed 17 people and leveled a historic hotel.
Meanwhile, the CWA recorded more than 400 aftershocks from Wednesday morning until the last hours of this Thursday.
China appreciates international solidarity, Taipei reacts
Taiwan reacted this Thursday after China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations thanked the world for its concern about the strong earthquake on the island.
China is concerned about the damage and has expressed condolences to Taiwan and offered help, they said according to a transcript posted by the Chinese mission on the UN website.
“We thank the international community for its expressions of sympathy and concern,” he added.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry expressed anger at Beijing's comments and said it “solemnly condemns China's brazen use of the Taiwan earthquake to conduct international cognitive operations,” using the term for what it considers a psychological war.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and also claims the right to speak for it on the international stage, but Taipei stresses that Beijing has never governed the island.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists, who established the People's Republic of China with its capital in Beijing.
Taiwan's formal name remains the Republic of China.
With AP, Reuters and EFE
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