Taiwanese rescue teams work through the night searching for earthquake survivors

Record ID: 115915

  • Title: Taiwanese rescue teams work through the night searching for earthquake survivors
  • Date: 7th February 2016
  • Summary: TAINAN, TAIWAN (FEBRUARY 7, 2016) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** COLLAPSED BUILDING RESCUE WORKER ON CRANE WITH DEAD BODY ON STRETCHER MILITARY / MEDICAL TEAM TAKING BODY INTO TENT LOCAL RESIDENTS STANDING OUTSIDE TENT BODY BEING TRANSPORTED INTO AMBULANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DEPUTY LEADER OF TAINAN CITY GOVERNMENT RESCUE TEAM, CHENG CHI-FENG, SAYING: "In the morning and in the afternoon today, we used a life detector to look for survivors. In the end, we did not detect any signs of life. If we find any signs of life, we will be digging to find them." RESCUE WORKER ON CRANE WITH DEAD BODY MEDICAL TEAM BRINGING BODY INTO TENT
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2016 14:30
  • Keywords: earthquake building collapse rescue teams night shift
  • Location: TAINAN, TAIWAN
  • City: TAINAN, TAIWAN
  • Country: Taiwan
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
  • Reuters ID: LVA00143HPGEF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Rescue teams in Taiwan worked throughout the night and into Sunday (February 7) in the hope of finding more survivors in a collapsed 17-storey apartment tower in Tainan, a day after a strong earthquake shook the city.
    About 120 people are still believed to be trapped in the rubble, according to the government, and at around 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) rescuers pulled three lifeless bodies out of the ruins and transported them to a medical tent.
    "Today in the morning and afternoon we used a life detector to look for survivors, and in the end we did not detect any signs of life. If we find any signs of life, we will be digging to find them," said Cheng Chi-Feng, deputy leader of the Tainan City Government Rescue Team.
    At least 26 people are known to have died in the quake, which struck at about 4 a.m. on Saturday (February 6), at the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday, with most found in the collapsed Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in the southern city of Tainan.
    Bodies continue to be found, including those of two sisters, aged 18 and 23, Taiwanese media reported.
    Those found alive include a 20-year-old identified by Taiwan media as Huang Kuang-wei, and another man in his 20s surnamed Kuo, who was able to walk out of the wreckage supported by rescuers. Both were taken to hospital.
    Firefighters, police, soldiers and volunteers combed through the ruins using crane with others picking through the debris by hand, as dozens of the victims' family members watched anxiously, wearing thick jackets, woollen hats and scarves to combat the winter chill.
    Medical staff with empty gurneys waited nearby.
    The building's lower floors pancaked on top of each other in the 6.4 magnitude quake and then the whole structure toppled, raising immediate questions about the quality of materials and workmanship used in its construction in the 1990s.
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