Death toll from Hualien earthquake rises to 10
Authorities in Taiwan say the death toll from Wednesday's powerful earthquake rose to 10 on Thursday, after a body was found on a hiking trail at a nature reserve in Hualien County. But most of the roughly 50 hotel workers, marooned on a highway as they headed to a resort in the park, have been located. Authorities also said 660 people remain trapped, most of them in hotels in the park, after a road was cut off. Six miners, trapped on a cliff near Hualien, were also ferried to safety by a helicopter in a dramatic rescue. All those trapped in buildings in the worst-hit city of Hualien have been rescued, but many residents unnerved by more than 300 aftershocks spent the night outdoors. "The aftershocks were terrifying," said Yu, a 52-year-old woman, who gave only her family name. "It's non-stop. I do not dare to sleep in the house." Too scared to return to her apartment, which she described as being in a "mess", she slept in a tent on a sports ground being used for temporary shelter. Dozens of residents queued outside one badly damaged 10-storey building, waiting to go in and retrieve belongings. Each was given 10 minutes to collect valuables in huge garbage bags, though some saved time by throwing items out of windows into the street below. "This building is no longer liveable," said Tian Liang-si, who lived on the fifth floor, as she scrambled to gather her laptop, family photographs and other crucial items. She recalled the moment the quake struck, sending the building lurching and furniture sliding, while she rushed to save the four puppies she keeps as pets. "I'm a Hualien native," she told Reuters. "I'm not supposed to fear earthquakes. But this is an earthquake that frightened us." The quake, measured at a magnitude of 7.3 by the China Earthquake Networks Center, struck in waters off the island's east coast, near the city of Hualien. It was the strongest quake to hit the island in 25 years. Authorities put the tally of those injured at 1,067. (Reuters)