Disaster centers have been established in 30 city and county districts in the wake of yesterday's earthquake, while the military has sent a contingent of 5,000 soldiers to areas hit hardest to help with rescue efforts.
However, officials said there were still shortages of food, shelter, morgue space and ice to help preserve bodies of those killed in the massive quake.
Officials at Taichung Veteran's Hospital said it had admitted more than 100 people, most of whom arrived by helicopter. Hu Wei-shung (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Most of them suffered serious fractures and head injuries, while some of them had critical burns covering over 60 percent of their bodies. We are running out of beds and spaces in our hospitals," the deputy director of the nursing department at Taichung's Jen-ai hospital said.
Chao said the hospital had set up a first-aid station in front of the building.
"There are more patients waiting to be cared for at our branch in Tali (
The situation in some areas of Taichung County and Nantou County was serious, especially where traffic conditions or road problems made transportation difficult.
"There were no telephones, no electricity, no water, not even radios to contact people inside these areas," said a relief worker, adding that around 1,000 members of a rescue force were working in Taichung County and that they were expecting reinforcements soon.
The Defense Ministry had so far sent more than 5,000 soldiers and 10 medical teams to the major disaster areas throughout the country, with 12 helicopters dispatched to deliver food to the worst affected areas.
The ministry has set up six rescue centers in Taipei, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou and Yunlin. A temporary shelter at Nantou Coun-ty Stadium was set up and was accommodating some 1,000 people.
According to police, Chungliao village, Chichi village, Puli village in Nantou County and Taichung County recorded the most deaths and casualties.
Hundreds of survivors in those villages could only sit in front of wrecked homes and wait for help. Death and destruction was everywhere.
"There was not even enough cloth and boards to cover the dead bodies," a local resident was quoted as saying on a TV news program.
Local residents said they were also in urgent need of ice and containers to take care of the dead.
Taichung City Mayor Chang Wen-ying (
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Association (慈濟功德會) set up relief centers in Taipei and Taichung, with over 5,000 tents, sleeping bags and cushions sent to disaster areas by yesterday evening.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS