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| Rescue Efforts Continue as Toll Rises in Taiwan Earthquake | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| TAINAN, Taiwan — Firefighters and soldiers clambered through the rubble of a 17-story apartment building and pulled survivors to safety on Saturday afternoon, after a strong earthquake shook this city in southwestern Taiwan before dawn. | TAINAN, Taiwan — Firefighters and soldiers clambered through the rubble of a 17-story apartment building and pulled survivors to safety on Saturday afternoon, after a strong earthquake shook this city in southwestern Taiwan before dawn. |
| The quake killed at least 13 people, 11 of whom had been in the apartment building, said Liu Shih-chung, the city’s deputy secretary general. | |
| Mr. Liu said that 430 people had been injured, including 320 who had suffered minor injuries and were quickly treated at nearby hospitals and released. Dozens of people were missing, according to local news reports. | |
| Most of Tainan, a city of 1.8 million, seemed to be unscathed by the quake. Rescue efforts focused on the apartment building, and Mr. Liu said its collapse would be investigated. “There must be something wrong particularly about the structure of that building,” he said, declining to speculate further. | Most of Tainan, a city of 1.8 million, seemed to be unscathed by the quake. Rescue efforts focused on the apartment building, and Mr. Liu said its collapse would be investigated. “There must be something wrong particularly about the structure of that building,” he said, declining to speculate further. |
| Tainan residents said the tremor had felt considerably stronger than any they could remember on this island where earthquakes are frequent. At a magnitude of 6.4, according to the United States Geological Survey, the quake was not especially intense, but it was very shallow — just 6.2 miles deep. Shallow earthquakes frequently do more damage at the surface. | Tainan residents said the tremor had felt considerably stronger than any they could remember on this island where earthquakes are frequent. At a magnitude of 6.4, according to the United States Geological Survey, the quake was not especially intense, but it was very shallow — just 6.2 miles deep. Shallow earthquakes frequently do more damage at the surface. |
| Wu Fongfa, a cake shop manager in Tainan, said she was awakened by a loud noise, followed by shaking so intense that it ruptured the water main outside her building, flooding the street in calf-deep water. The quake was “the biggest one I’ve ever experienced,” said Ms. Wu, 52. “It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” | |
| The 17-story apartment building, down the street from Ms. Wu’s shop, fell on its side, prompting an extensive rescue effort by firefighters and soldiers. Children were passed hand to hand down a human chain along the side of the building, and rescuers helped adults climb down fire ladders. | |
| A long row of soldiers prevented onlookers from approaching the base of the building. Reinforcing steel bars stuck out horizontally from the building where it had separated from its foundation. | A long row of soldiers prevented onlookers from approaching the base of the building. Reinforcing steel bars stuck out horizontally from the building where it had separated from its foundation. |
| Nearby, a middle-aged woman in a purple parka cried softly early Saturday afternoon. “I have several family members inside,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “They haven’t come out, we’ve been waiting here, and you can see some of us are weeping because we don’t have any news of our family.” | Nearby, a middle-aged woman in a purple parka cried softly early Saturday afternoon. “I have several family members inside,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “They haven’t come out, we’ve been waiting here, and you can see some of us are weeping because we don’t have any news of our family.” |
| Hours later, Mr. Liu, Tainan’s fifth-ranking municipal official, said that all 256 people who were registered as living in the building had been accounted for. But he said search efforts would continue into the night and the coming days, to account for the possibility that the building might have had unregistered people, such as houseguests for the coming Lunar New Year holiday. | |
| Late Saturday night, local authorities said that more than 100 people were missing in the city and that rescuers were continuing to search for them, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency. | |
| Residents said the building, which had been the tallest structure in the area, was built before a 1999 earthquake in central Taiwan that killed more than 2,000 people. That earthquake prompted a tightening of building standards across Taiwan. Mr. Liu confirmed that the building was more than 20 years old. | Residents said the building, which had been the tallest structure in the area, was built before a 1999 earthquake in central Taiwan that killed more than 2,000 people. That earthquake prompted a tightening of building standards across Taiwan. Mr. Liu confirmed that the building was more than 20 years old. |
| As ambulances shuttled the injured to hospitals, long lines formed at local blood donation centers. “I know blood is always in short supply; this is the only thing I can do to help those who have been hurt,” said Chen Sunffy, a 23-year-old saleswoman, as she waited in a four-hour line to donate. | |
| But Dr. Hung Chung-jye, the chief surgeon at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan, the largest of several hospitals that treated patients from the quake, said injuries had mostly been minor. The hospital treated and immediately discharged 52 people who had been lightly injured in the tremor, and it admitted just 13 people, Dr. Hung said in an interview. Only four of those patients required surgery, for various fractures, and not one was put in intensive care, he said. | But Dr. Hung Chung-jye, the chief surgeon at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan, the largest of several hospitals that treated patients from the quake, said injuries had mostly been minor. The hospital treated and immediately discharged 52 people who had been lightly injured in the tremor, and it admitted just 13 people, Dr. Hung said in an interview. Only four of those patients required surgery, for various fractures, and not one was put in intensive care, he said. |
| The hospital had called in 50 extra doctors and 150 extra nurses in anticipation of more patients, with the result that there were no delays in care, Dr. Hung said. | The hospital had called in 50 extra doctors and 150 extra nurses in anticipation of more patients, with the result that there were no delays in care, Dr. Hung said. |
| The quake left about 500 people homeless, half of them from the collapsed apartment building; local hotels have agreed to give them free lodging for several days, Mr. Liu said. | |
| Foreign governments, including Japan’s and Singapore’s, offered assistance, but Mr. Liu said it was not needed. “We have enough people to do it because we only focus on one collapsed building, not an area,” he said. | Foreign governments, including Japan’s and Singapore’s, offered assistance, but Mr. Liu said it was not needed. “We have enough people to do it because we only focus on one collapsed building, not an area,” he said. |
| The earthquake disrupted travel in Taiwan just before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, when large numbers of people travel between the island’s largest cities on the west coast to join family. Early Saturday, the Ministry of Transportation suspended operation of Taiwan’s popular high-speed rail service in the southern half of the island because of damage to the tracks about 20 miles north of Tainan, adding to congestion on the already-choked roads. |