Taiwan hit by 6.4 magnitude earthquake

Three more casualties have been discovered, as the earthquake’s death toll rises to nine victims and hundreds of injured.

 

According to the Central Emergency Operation Centre, three more deceased Chinese women have been discovered in a room at the Beautiful Stay motel in Hualien as rescuers continue searching for the 6.4 magnitude earthquake’s victims.

As the members in the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (Arats) and the Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association stated, the victims’ families are being assisted to travel to Taiwan in order to retrieve the bodies.

Taiwan said no to Beijing’s offer to help rescuing victims, as officials declared that the state is totally able to cope with the operations.

During the earthquake, the Beautiful Stay motel building tilted considerably due to the shaking.

“There was no problem with the materials used in the construction of the building as the structure from the fourth floor up was still intact despite the collapse. It tilted mostly because it was built on top of the fault, and because there were balconies on just one side of the building,” explained Liu Yen-hu, president of the Hualien County Architecture Association.

To prevent an imminent collapse and to begin evacuating survivors, workers have stabilized the building with steel beams. The rescue operations were disrupted by several aftershocks with magnitudes between 4 and 5.7.

So far, rescuers reported 9 casualties of the earthquake, 267 injuries and 58 missing persons.

Source: scmp.com