Taipei: Three days after Taiwan experienced a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful in the island country in 25 years, rescue operations are still ongoing as over 600 people, including about 450 at a hotel in the Taroko park, remained stranded in various locations cut off by rockslides and other damage. Authorities are planning to bring in heavy equipment to recover two more bodies buried under boulders on a hiking trail.

Four more people remain missing on the same Shakadang Trail in Taroko National Park, famed for its rugged mountainous terrain. Search and recovery work was set to resume, after being called off Friday afternoon because of aftershocks. The death count has risen to 12, with the tally of injured stood at 1,099, authorities said.

Survivors have told harrowing tales of rocks tumbling onto roadways, trapping them in tunnels until rescuers arrived to free them. In the city of Hualien, a building left tilting over a street at a precarious angle was being carefully torn down. A helicopter ferried to safety six miners trapped on a cliff in a dramatic rescue after the quake cut off the roads into Hualien’s soaring mountains, in footage shown by the department.

Two Indian nationals safe after they went missing

Meanwhile, two Indian nationals who went missing in Taiwan after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the island nation on Wednesday have been able to get in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs and are now in a safe condition, said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. However, one Indian national remains unaccounted for.

“According to our information, we were not able to contact two Indian nationals in Taiwan after the earthquake. We have been now able to get in touch with the two Indians. They are safe. This is the information I want to share on the two Indian nationals who were missing earlier,” said Jaiswal at a regular press briefing on Thursday.

This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that he is “deeply saddened” by the loss of lives due to the earthquake in Taiwan, offered condolences to the bereaved families and wished for speedy recovery to the injured. He said that India stands in solidarity with the people of Taiwan as they endure the aftermath and recover from it.

The situation in Taiwan now

Rescuers in Taiwan now face the threat of further landslides and rockfalls in Friday’s search. The earthquake has crushed business in Hualien, known for its beautiful landscapes, with many bookings cancelled. The quake came a day before Taiwan began a long weekend holiday for the traditional tomb sweeping festival, when people head to their homes to spruce up ancestral graves.

Rescue workers located most of the roughly 50 hotel workers marooned on a highway as they headed to a resort in the Taroko Gorge national park. The department said four foreigners remained unaccounted for – one Canadian, one Indian and two Australians.

“I am lucky to survive,” said David Chen, 63, a security manager at the hotel, after his rescue. “We were terrified when the earthquake first happened. We thought it was all over, all over, all over, because it was an earthquake, right?”

Meanwhile, senior Taiwanese politicians including President Tsai Ing-wen said they were donating a month’s salary to relief efforts and Japan also pledged to provide $1 million in aid. The earthquake has crushed business in Hualien, famed for its rugged beauty, with many bookings cancelled, some businesses said.

Earthquakes are frequent in Taiwan

Taiwan was struck by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years since a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed about 2,400 people and damaged or destroyed 50,000 buildings. Wednesday’s 7.4-magnitude quake sent boulders and mud tumbling down mountainsides, blocking roads, smashing cars and injuring more than 1,000 people.

Taiwan is prone to earthquakes because it sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” near the junction of two tectonic plates. The island country is regularly jolted by quakes and its population is among the best prepared for them, but authorities said they had expected a relatively mild earthquake and accordingly did not send out alerts. The eventual quake was strong enough to scare even people who were used to such shaking.

(with inputs from Reuters, AP)

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