Rescue teams continued searching for dozens of missing people Friday after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook Taiwan, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 1,000.
The quake struck the sparsely populated and largely rural eastern province of Hualien, sending rocks cascading down mountains, cutting roads and leaving hundreds stranded in a national park. The death toll rose as search teams found two more bodies in the mountains, according to Taiwan’s fire department. Rescue operations were extremely difficult due to bad weather.
“The rain increases the risk of falling rocks and landslides, which is currently the biggest challenge,” Su Yumin, leader of the search and rescue team, told Reuters. “As these factors are unpredictable, we cannot confirm the number of days required for search and rescue operations.”
Buildings across the island nation are leaning at odd angles and are at risk of collapse as workers try to stabilize the structures. In Hualien City, near the epicenter on Taiwan’s east coast, Mayor Xu Chen-wei said Wednesday’s earthquake and subsequent aftershocks damaged 48 homes, according to the Associated Press.
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Rubble surrounds the title building on Thursday, April 4, 2024, the day after a massive earthquake struck Hualien City in eastern Taiwan. (AP Photo/Yingying Chiang)
Some Hualien residents are living in tents, but life on the island is starting to return to normal. Some local train services in Hualien have resumed, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a world leader in computer chip manufacturing, has resumed operations, the Central News Agency reported, according to the Associated Press.
Residents of the damaged buildings have been evacuated to temporary evacuation shelters as work continues to prevent the building from collapsing.
In this photo released by the Hualien City Fire Department, firefighters and quarry workers evacuate bodies from the Holen Quarry, Thursday, April 4, 2024, a day after a major earthquake struck eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County. There is. Rescue teams are searching for people at the scene. The news came a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter of a century damaged buildings, caused multiple rockfalls and killed several people. (From Hualien Fire Department Associated Press)
Nearly 1,070 people were injured in the earthquake. Of the 10 people killed, at least four were killed in Taroko National Park, a tourist attraction in Hualien County known for its canyons and cliffs, about 90 miles from Taipei. One person was found dead in a damaged building, and the other was found in Whalen Quarry. Authorities recovered the body from the sidewalk Thursday afternoon.
According to the National Fire Protection Agency, about 700 people were still missing or stranded as of Thursday, with more than 600 of them stranded inside the Silks Place Taroko hotel. Officials said staff and guests were safe, had food and water, and that work to repair the road to the hotel was nearing completion.
Other stranded people were reportedly found safely, including 20 tourists, about 20 campers, and six university students.
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A police officer stands guard near a partially destroyed building on Thursday, April 4, 2024, the day after a massive earthquake struck Hualien City in eastern Taiwan. (AP Photo/Yingying Chiang)
Authorities said about 60 workers who were trapped in a quarry due to blocked or damaged roads have been freed. Central News Agency reported that the workers were able to safely descend the mountain around noon. Six workers from another quarry were airlifted out.
Authorities announced Friday that a group of 50 hotel workers stranded on a road heading into a national park is largely safe.
Videos and images on social media showed buildings’ foundations being thrown off by Wednesday’s quake. His five-story building in sparsely populated Hualien City sustained heavy damage, with the first floor collapsing and the remaining floors left leaning at a 45-degree angle.
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A structural engineer takes samples from a leaning building, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, a day after a massive earthquake struck. (AP Photo/Yingying Chiang)
It was unclear Friday whether people remained trapped inside the building.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the 15.6-mile quake at magnitude 7.4, while Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency put it at magnitude 7.2. Wu Jianfu, director of Taiwan’s Earthquake Monitoring Bureau, said the effects of the quake were felt as far away as Kinmen Island, which is under Taiwan’s control off the coast of China.
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Multiple aftershocks were recorded, and one of the subsequent quakes measured magnitude 6.5 and a depth of 12.5 miles, according to the USGS.
The earthquake is believed to be the strongest since the 1999 earthquake that caused extensive damage in Taiwan. Taiwan is located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a series of seismic faults that encircle the Pacific Ocean, where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano, Landon Mion, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
