Hundreds missing and 4 killed in Taiwan after massive quake
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- in World Media
- — Feb 10, 2018
More than 200 people have been rescued, but there are still 88 people missing, with a lot of them trapped in the Yun Men Tusi Ti building in Hualien County, according to the local disaster relief administration.
Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Wednesday expressed deep sympathy to all the victims and honest regards to Taiwan compatriots who suffered, saying that people from the mainland were deeply concerned about the quake and sympathized with their Taiwan compatriots.
"As he encourages the civil authorities and emergency personnel engaged in the rescue efforts, His Holiness willingly invokes upon all the Taiwanese people the divine blessings of strength and peace", said the telegram, signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Ambassador Shen said the rescue efforts are made more hard given that it's winter in Taiwan.
Taiwan has frequent earthquakes due to its position along the "Ring of Fire", the seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur.
The office has been in touch with the families of the four mainland victims and five missing mainland tourists and are helping them to visit Taiwan.
The new discovery means that nine of the 12 people killed when the quake hit the eastern tourist city of Hualien Tuesday perished in the Yun Tsui building.
According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), the magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck waters near Hualien at 11:50 p.m. Tuesday.
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The hotel, located on the lower floors of the 12-storey Yunmen Tsuiti building, had nearly entirely collapsed.
The 6.4 magnitude quake, which struck Hualien on Tuesday, has injured 270 people. One aftershock shortly before midnight measured 5.7-magnitude.
The couple, who were Hong Kong-Canadian, were identified as Freda and Peter So.
"We have to confirm that unfortunately she was not able to survive the strong quake in Hualien", he said, adding Philippine labor officials had already informed the next of kin.
The highway from Suao to Hualien was temporarily closed.
Since Feb. 4, more than 100 earthquakes have jolted the area.
Separately, Singapore's Ministry of Defence said in a statement that a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 transport aircraft airlifted humanitarian supplies worth $135,000 to Taiwan yesterday afternoon for victims of the natural disaster.
