A 6.3 quake kills and injures in Nantou
Taipei (AsiaNews) - Three people are dead and another is missing following the strongest tremor recorded in Taiwan this year, 6.3 on the Richter scale. More than 20 people were injured, three seriously. The quake hit at 1:43 pm Sunday in Renai township (仁爱 乡), Nantou County (南投), Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau reported.
A 54-year-old tourist who was with a group of hikers on Alishan (Mount Ali), in central Taiwan was killed by falling rocks, said Lee Hong-yuan (李鸿源), Interior Minister and director of Drought Disaster Relief Center (中央 灾害 应变 中心). A 50-year-old man was killed by falling rocks in a mountain area in Nantou County, the DDRC said. This morning, a 69-year-old hiker died in hospital in Lugu County after being hit yesterday by falling rocks.
Firefighters and police are still looking for a man buried in a landslide in mountainous Nantou County. The National Fire Agency also reported that a woman who was driving on a highway in Alishan was seriously injured after being hit by falling rocks.
Two people were seriously injured by falling rocks as they walked along a mountain trail in Nantou County's Jhushan Township.
President Ma Ying-jeou (马英九), who at the time of the earthquake was visiting Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 with Prime Minister Jiang Yi-Huah (江宜桦), immediately contacted the Interior minister and dispatched Deputy Prime Minister Mao Chi-kuo (毛治国) to Chiayi and Nantou Counties to enforce a state of emergency.
The violent quake damaged some buildings, generating fears of a possible '9/21', which refers to the great earthquake of 21 September 1999 that hit central Taiwan with 7.3 tremor on the Richter scale, killing 2,416 people.
As a precaution, six high-speed trains (台湾 高 铁) were halted. Another 23 were cancelled to check the railway for damages, forcing 50,000 people to change their travel plans.
An initial survey by the Education Ministry showed that the tremor also damaged buildings and facilities at 90 schools in central Taiwan. Some schools did not open this morning. Two people were injured in two schools. Damages were estimated to be around US$ 350,000.
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