09/02/2016

Taiwanearthquake:RescuersscourrubbleforsurvivorsCNN.com

Regions +

Rescuers scour rubble for survivors after

earthquake kills 37 in Taiwan
By Joshua Berlinger and Kevin Wang, CNN
Updated 0138 GMT (0938 HKT) February 8, 2016 | Video
Source: CNN

Story highlights
NEW: Death toll climbs to 37, according to
city's disaster response office
A 16-story apartment building collapses in
Tainan, Taiwan's oldest city
At least 121 people are still unaccounted for;
more than 500 injured

(CNN)Rescuers scrambled to find survivors Sunday

night after an earthquake toppled buildings in Taiwan,
killing at least 37 people, authorities said.
Of the fatalities, at least 24 were in the Weiguan Jinlong
apartment building in the city of Tainan, according to
presidential spokeswoman Ma Wei-kuo.
Dozens of people were still trapped in the building, one
of 11 that collapsed after Saturday's magnitude-6.4
quake, the official Central News Agency reported.
President Ma Ying-jeou canceled his traditional
Chinese New Year address to oversee rescue and
recovery operations at the national disaster

headquarters, his spokeswoman said.

'I was trapped'

Chien, her 3-year-old daughter and her husband were in their bedroom in Tainan --Taiwan's oldest city -when the earthquake struck.
"I was trapped in a room in a building toppled by the quake," said the mother, who gave only her surname.
"The smell of gas was thick in the air, and I was worried that I would be killed by an explosion if not crushed
to death in the collapsed building," she told CNA.
It was a frightening ordeal, one that she has dealt with before.
She lived in central Taiwan before moving to Tainan and survived the 1999 quake that killed more than
2,000 people.
"I moved to Tainan after I got married and now I have encountered another major earthquake," she told
CNA.

'Ring of fire'
Before rescuers freed them, Chien and her family were trapped for three hours in their sixth-floor apartment
in the 16-story residential building.
In all, more than 500 people were injured, CNA reported. Ninety-two people remain hospitalized late Sunday,
according to Tainan's disaster response office.
As of Sunday morning, at least 121 people were still unaccounted for in Taiwan, CNA reported. A cold wave
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/07/asia/taiwanearthquake/index.html

1/4

09/02/2016

Taiwanearthquake:RescuersscourrubbleforsurvivorsCNN.com

moving into the area added to rescuers' sense of urgency.

Taiwan is in the so-called "Ring of Fire," an area in the Pacific Ocean where intense tectonic plate movement
causes frequent earthquakes.
"Taiwan is very used to earthquakes and tremors, but this is far more significant than the island has seen in
quite a while," Elise Hu, an NPR correspondent who was in Taipei when the quake hit, told CNN.
Read more: How earthquakes are measured

The building
The Weiguan Jinlong building now looks like an
accordion from above. Aerial footage from CNN
affiliate SETTV showed the collapsed building, with
white smoke or dust still rising.

16 photos: Magnitude-6.4 earthquake

shocks Taiwan

"The building essentially collapsed onto itself," Hu

said. "When you see the aerial images around Tainan,
the rest of the buildings are standing. But this
particular apartment complex is as damaged as it is."
One woman told CNN affiliate EBC that rescuers had
to cut a hole in order to help her family get out.

"Fortunately we were stuck under a space created by a baby crib and a closet door, so that things won't fall
on us and air was able to get in," she said from the hospital, where she was being treated for a leg injury. "I
was so afraid."
The country's interior minister and other officials said
they would conduct an investigation into the
building's collapse, according to CNA.

After residents raised concerns about the safety of

the building, Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te said he will
order a probe as well.
The quake struck as many in Taiwan prepared to
celebrate the Lunar New Year.
It's one of the country's biggest holidays, and some
people have as many as nine days off, Hu said.

Related Video: Rescuers searching for

victims trapped after quake 04:33

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/07/asia/taiwanearthquake/index.html

"If you can imagine something like this happening

during Thanksgiving holiday weekend or Christmas
travel, that's the equivalent of what's happening here
in Taiwan right now," she said.

2/4

09/02/2016

Taiwanearthquake:RescuersscourrubbleforsurvivorsCNN.com

mattia_kung h 3 dias

Seguir

!! Pray for Tainan Taiwan!!!
#Taiwan #Tainan #sad #earthquake #Fxxk
#OMG #Cry
CNN's Steve Almasy, Brian Walker, Serenitie Wang and Yousuf Basil contributed to this report.

Japan school girl culture: The dark truth

Best Super Bowl commercials of 2016

Why North Korea just launched a satellite

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/07/asia/taiwanearthquake/index.html

3/4

09/02/2016

Taiwanearthquake:RescuersscourrubbleforsurvivorsCNN.com

Haitian President Michel Martelly steps down

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/07/asia/taiwanearthquake/index.html

4/4