As of Wednesday morning, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has verified that two Australians are among the seventy individuals who remain missing following the earthquake that struck Taiwan.
In a statement released today, DFAT stated, “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of two Australians reported missing following the earthquake in Taiwan.”
“The Australian Office in Taipei is making urgent enquiries with local authorities to confirm their welfare,” they stated.
The country’s strongest earthquake in 25 years claimed ten lives, and rescuers are still combing through the debris.
One day earlier, a strong earthquake hit during morning rush hour, sending families running out of their flats through the windows and youngsters running outside.
Some buildings’ ground floors fell, leaving them slanting at dangerous angles.
Authorities did not issue the normal alerts because they were anticipating a lesser earthquake, despite the fact that the island is frequently shook by earthquakes and is usually well-prepared.
While the main road connecting Hualien County, near the epicentre, to Taipei, the nation’s capital, remained closed Thursday afternoon, about 200 people of the county were sheltering in makeshift shelters.
Nevertheless, most aspects of daily life in Taiwan have returned to normal. According to the Central News Agency, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the major producers of computer chips worldwide, opened up most of its activities, and some local rail service to Hualien was restored.
There were around 1,100 injuries from the earthquake.
At least four of the ten fatalities occurred inside Taroko National Park, a popular tourist destination in the hilly Hualien region located 150 kilometers from Taipei and known for its cliffs and gorges.
Two bodies were discovered: one inside a collapsed structure and the other in the Ho Ren Quarry.
From a hiking trail, rescuers also removed the body of a man who had suffered terrible wounds to his head.
When mud and rocks blocked the roads to their hotel, campground, or place of employment, hundreds of individuals became stranded; nonetheless, the majority of them remained safe as they waited for help.
On Thursday, it was unclear how many people were confined to buildings.
The 58-year-old construction worker Liu Zhong-da and his colleague were inside a tunnel when the earthquake struck because they were en route to work on a road within the national park.
They were stuck with a few other people because a boulder was blocking their way out. Liu remarked, “We almost got covered up.” “No communication could be made (to the outside world).”
After being saved on Thursday afternoon, Liu and his companion were given a brief medical examination outside the park.
Authorities added that about sixty workers who had been unable to evacuate a quarry due to damaged roads had also been released.
Another quarry had six employees who were evacuated out.
Seven hundred people are still without access, most of them are workers and visitors to a hotel located within the national park.
The authorities reported that they had food and water, were safe, and that the hotel’s road repairs were almost complete.
After the majority of the group was saved or was able to leave on foot, ten more employees of the same hotel were left stranded somewhere in the park.
About fifteen people, according to the authorities, could not be reached and their conditions were unknown.
As authorities have discovered more people in need and have saved more, the numbers have frequently changed.
On Thursday, while hens chirped among potted plants on the flat roof sloping sharply downward in Hualien, workmen utilized an excavator to stabilize the base of a damaged building.
Prior to the earthquake, Mayor Hsu Chen-wei said that 48 residential buildings had been destroyed. Fearing aftershocks, thirty-year-old Hualien Dong Hwa University professor Hendri Sutrisno, along with his wife and infant, spent Wednesday night in a tent inside a shelter.
“We fled the flat and had to wait for four or five hours before returning to retrieve our wallet and other essentials.
And we have been staying here ever since to evaluate the circumstances,” he remarked.
Some claimed that because they lived on higher stories or that their apartments’ walls were damaged, they were afraid to return home.
Taiwanese Premier Chen Chien-jen paid a morning visit to a few earthquake victims who were staying at a makeshift shelter.
The US Geological Survey recorded the magnitude of the earthquake as 7.4, making it the biggest to strike Taiwan in 25 years.
The earthquake happened as Huang Shiao-en was inside her residence. “At first the building was swinging side to side, and then it shook up and down,” she continued.
From Wednesday morning till Thursday night, over 400 aftershocks were reported by the Central Weather Administration.
Minor damage was sustained by parts of Taipei’s main airport and the national legislature.
The last significant earthquake to hit Hualien occurred in 2018, when it destroyed a historic hotel and left 17 people dead.
The largest earthquake to hit Taiwan in recent memory occurred on September 21, 1999, with a magnitude of 7.7. It left thousands of buildings demolished, 2,400 people dead, and approximately 100,000 injured.
