Rescuers in Taiwan raced on Sunday to save more than
120 people still trapped under the rubble of a building after
it collapsed during a powerful earthquake.
Emergency workers worked around the clock to comb the
ruins of the 17-storey building in southern Tainan city
following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in the early hours of
Saturday.
As rescue operations continued, the death toll from the
earthquake rose to 28, with most victims – including a ten-
day-old baby girl – killed in the ill-fated Wei-guan Golden
Dragon Building.
Among those rescued from the collapsed building, which
was home to 256 residents, was a six-month-old baby girl
who was reportedly rushed to hospital after more than 30
hours under rubble.
Anxious relatives gathering near the rescue operations
included a woman who called herself Chang, 42, who
described how she was waiting to hear from her 24-year-
old daughter who lived on the fifth floor.
“She’s not answering my phone calls,” she said. “I am
trying to hold my emotions and stay strong. I’ll do that
until I find her.”
“I’ve contacted judicial units and prosecutors have formally
launched an investigation,” said William Lai, the mayor of
Tainan, Taiwan’s oldest city.
“We’ve also commissioned three independent bodies to
preserve evidence during the rescue so we can assist the
residents if they want to file lawsuits in the future. We will
hold the builder responsible if they have broken the law.”
Yueh Chin-sen, whose mother-in-law’s family of eight was
still trapped, described how residents had long complained
of defects in the building.
“They complained that the building wasn’t well constructed
as there were cracks in the walls and tiles fell off after
several quakes in recent years,” he told AFP.
“I hope the government will prosecute the builder on
criminal charges as people lost their lives.”
Taiwan, which is located in a seismically active Pacific Ring
of Fire zone, was hit by a major 7.7 magnitude earthquake
in 1999 which claimed more than 2,400 lives.
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