Earthquake Hits Southern Taiwan (Photo : Getty Images)
The death toll in the Saturday morning magnitude 6.4 earthquake that shook Taiwan went up to 39 as of Monday from seven on Feb. 6. At last 24 of the victims were residents of the collapsed 17-storey Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in Tainan’s Yongkang District, while 118 are still missing.
Helping Taiwan search for trapped residents is a five-man Japanese rescue team that is working with local teams to look for an estimated 100 more people likely still trapped in collapsed apartments, reported Central News Agency (CNA) of Taiwan.
What caused the large number of victims from Wei-guan was the use of tin cans as construction fillers in beams. Emergency workers discovered the construction anomaly while searching for bodies, dead or alive, according to CNA. The discovery led to authorities ordering an investigation into the matter.
The probe, to be led by the Interior minister, would begin after the rescue operations end. A separate investigation would be ordered by Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-Te.
But according to an engineer, the use of tin cans as construction materials became banned only in September 1999. With the prohibition, builders used formwork boards and Styrofoam instead.
Although 11 buildings were damaged by the tremor, only Wei-gang totally crumbled. Since Taiwan is in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the country is quite used to temblors, however, the Saturday quake was different because of its intensity.
Besides the manpower help, Japan also pledged $1 million donation to be used for relief effort and other forms of assistance. The United States earlier also donated $500,000.
