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08-04-2024, 05:54 PM
When Wang Ming-chuang left for work in a mining area in Hualien County early on Wednesday morning, he did not expect to witness someone being buried alive and find himself trapped there for more than 24 hours.
“Large and small rocks fell from the sky, like a hail of bullets,” the 64-year-old Wang said, recalling his desperation after an earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and magnitude 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, struck off Hualien County at 7:58am on Wednesday and triggered massive rockslides.
“All I could do was to keep running, and I narrowly managed to escape the falling rocks when I reached the edge of the cliff,” he said after being rescued by the National Airborne Service Corps on Thursday morning.
The official number of people trapped or stranded rose considerably - from about 100 to 660 - on Thursday as people started getting phone signal back in the mountainous regions.
Almost all are guests and staff of a remote hotel who cannot leave because of damaged roads. Officials are now trying to work out the best way to get them out.
Food supplies have been air-dropped to dozens trapped in these areas, local reports say.
"The mountain started raining rocks like bullets, we had nowhere to escape to, everyone ran beside the sandbags for cover," the survivor, identified by his surname Chu, told Taiwan's Central News Agency.
Three of the nine who died were hikers on a trail leading towards Taroko National Park, named after a landmark gorge, just outside Hualien.
In Hualien city, the capital of the county where the earthquake struck, relief efforts are proceeding quickly, with workers using excavators and other heavy equipment to demolish several damaged buildings.
On Thursday morning, the BBC also witnessed relief workers removing huge boulders - the size of cars - that had fallen close to railway lines so as to get normal train services running again.
They are also using large amounts of gravel and rocks to shore up a 10-storey structure known as the Uranus building, which has been leaning downwards since the quake struck - to prevent it from falling over in case of another aftershock.
Local reports said one female teacher had died in the building when she returned to rescue her cat.
“Large and small rocks fell from the sky, like a hail of bullets,” the 64-year-old Wang said, recalling his desperation after an earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale and magnitude 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, struck off Hualien County at 7:58am on Wednesday and triggered massive rockslides.
“All I could do was to keep running, and I narrowly managed to escape the falling rocks when I reached the edge of the cliff,” he said after being rescued by the National Airborne Service Corps on Thursday morning.
The official number of people trapped or stranded rose considerably - from about 100 to 660 - on Thursday as people started getting phone signal back in the mountainous regions.
Almost all are guests and staff of a remote hotel who cannot leave because of damaged roads. Officials are now trying to work out the best way to get them out.
Food supplies have been air-dropped to dozens trapped in these areas, local reports say.
"The mountain started raining rocks like bullets, we had nowhere to escape to, everyone ran beside the sandbags for cover," the survivor, identified by his surname Chu, told Taiwan's Central News Agency.
Three of the nine who died were hikers on a trail leading towards Taroko National Park, named after a landmark gorge, just outside Hualien.
In Hualien city, the capital of the county where the earthquake struck, relief efforts are proceeding quickly, with workers using excavators and other heavy equipment to demolish several damaged buildings.
On Thursday morning, the BBC also witnessed relief workers removing huge boulders - the size of cars - that had fallen close to railway lines so as to get normal train services running again.
They are also using large amounts of gravel and rocks to shore up a 10-storey structure known as the Uranus building, which has been leaning downwards since the quake struck - to prevent it from falling over in case of another aftershock.
Local reports said one female teacher had died in the building when she returned to rescue her cat.
I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
