On the 11th day after Hualien County was hit by an earthquake which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, search and rescue workers recovered the body of a truck driver yesterday morning, with two other people still listed as missing.
The body of the truck driver was found in a quarry in the Ho Jen mining area of Sioulin Township (秀林) in Hualien at 11:45am yesterday.
After days of effort using heavy machinery to clear blocked routes, a search and rescue team reached the area where the body was on Friday, an officer from the Hualien County Fire Department said.
Photo courtesy of the Hualien Fire Department
Yesterday, the team used the machinery to dig five meters down and found sandbags and the front of a white pickup truck, which was later identified by the employer as the vehicle driven by the missing driver, the officer said.
The driver’s body was recovered after the search and rescue team dug further, the officer added.
Meanwhile, a Singaporean couple believed to have been hiking the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) when the earthquake struck remains unaccounted for.
The search continued yesterday, with a search team entering the Shakadang waterfall area 2.4km from the start of the trail yesterday morning.
With the confirmation of the driver’s death, the official death toll from the Hualien earthquake on April 3 has risen to 17.
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the Thai government on Friday for its NT$1 million (US$31,018) donation for earthquake relief.
In a statement, the ministry said it was informed by the Thailand Trade and Economic Office about the donation to the designated account established by Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Thanking Thailand for its offer to assist with reconstruction efforts in Hualien County, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it hoped the goodwill between the two countries could continue to grow and lay the groundwork for further international cooperation.
In a separate release yesterday, the ministry also extended thanks to Lithuania for announcing a donation of 50,000 euros (US$53,244) to assist in the post-quake reconstruction.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on X that the donation demonstrates solidarity between the people of Lithuania and Taiwan.
In other news, Chiayi County experienced eight earthquakes from late Friday to yesterday morning, the the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that they are likely unconnected to the massive Hualien quake that struck on April 3, or the Meishan Fault.
From 11:43pm on Friday to 6:50am yesterday, Chiayi was hit by a total of eight earthquakes, a tremblor measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale being the most powerful, with its epicenter in Budai Township (布袋), 14.5km southwest of Chiayi County Hall, the CWA said.
CWA Seismological Center director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) said the CWA believes the earthquakes in Chiayi were not related to the Meishan Fault and are also separate from the Hualien earthquake.
An earthquake is likely to occur where plates collide, Wu said, adding that these quakes were relatively far from the Meishan Fault and are therefore unlikely to be related to the fault.
It is possible that there would be more earthquakes in the coming days, but the magnitude is expected to be limited, he said, while urging the public to take precautions as Taiwan is an earthquake-prone island.
After the earthquake in Hualien County on April 3, there have been concerns that it could trigger strong temblors in other parts of the country.
One area of particular concern is Chiayi County, where the Meishan Fault — which has reached its once-in-a-century activity cycle — is located.
The Chiayi area has experienced 23 quakes since the beginning of the year, 19 of which were this month, CWA statistics show.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by