Taiwan Continues Rescue Operations on Fifth Day Amid 700 Aftershocks... 13 Dead

Rescue operations have continued for the fifth day in Taiwan, where a major earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher occurred on the 3rd.

According to Taiwan Central News Agency on the 7th, the Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan reported that from 7:58 a.m. local time on the 3rd, when the first earthquake occurred, until noon on the same day, a total of 693 earthquakes were recorded centered around Hualien County in eastern Taiwan.

Although the earthquake magnitudes have all dropped below magnitude 6 since the first day, aftershocks continue with 24 earthquakes ranging from magnitude 5 to 6, 210 from 4 to 5, and 456 from 3 to 4.

At 12:43 p.m. on the same day, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake was observed in the sea area 2.7 km south of the Hualien County government (depth 26.5 km).

Search operation at Taroko National Park, Hualien County, Taiwan
Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, rescue operations continue amid ongoing aftershocks. As of the morning of the day, Taiwan's Central Disaster Response Center reported 13 deaths and 6 missing persons due to this earthquake.

Taiwan authorities said that a drone team from Turkey has arrived in Hualien and will conduct aerial filming to search for missing persons on the Sakadang Trail within Taroko National Park. They added that a separate search operation will be conducted for a Singaporean couple holding Australian passports.

The Central Disaster Response Center also reported that a total of 305 hotel guests and staff who were trapped in the mountains of the national park are expected to be evacuated to safe locations during the day, and that 50 hikers who had visited Taroko National Park before the earthquake are currently descending the mountain.

The estimated losses to fisheries and other civilian and public facilities due to this earthquake, as assessed by Taiwanese authorities, amount to a total of 68.78 million Taiwan dollars (approximately 2.9 billion KRW) as of 5 p.m. the previous day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.