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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and