Rescue teams in Taiwan have airlifted 928 pounds of food to a mining area where 64 people remain trapped after an earthquake
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Yang Chengchen/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
- Taiwanese authorities said they’ve airlifted 928 pounds of food to people stuck at a quarry.
- Sixty-four people were reported trapped at Heping Mine after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Hualien county.
- So far, nine people have died, and another 186 were injured in Hualien due to the quake.
Rescue authorities in Taiwan said they’d airlifted about 928 pounds of food to a mining area where dozens are still trapped due to a 7.2-magnitude earthquake.
The self-governed island’s National Airborne Service also deployed drones to survey the Heping Mine region, where 64 people are believed to be stuck, officials from the Emergency Operations Center said on Thursday morning.
It’s still unclear how these people became trapped or if they must be rescued from underground.
Six other people were reported to be trapped at a separate quarry, Zhonghe, but officials said they were rescued via helicopter on Thursday morning.
Nine people died, and another 186 were injured in the eastern county of Hualien, which was near the epicenter of a massive earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday.
Officials said the quake also injured more than 300 people in other areas of Taiwan.
Apart from those trapped in the quarries, 24 tourists are believed to be stuck in a cave, authorities said on Thursday. Another five employees of a local hotel were also reported to be trapped.
And 52 people were still missing as of the Thursday update, most of whom were employees of the same local hotel taking minibusses to the Taroko National Park, per emergency officials.
Footage from the aftermath of the Wednesday earthquake showed several collapsed or severely damaged buildings, including one multi-story building tilted to nearly 45 degrees.
Several people were killed by landslides and falling rocks triggered by the quakes. Dozens more were stuck on mountain roads and tunnels that day, but authorities said they were rescued via helicopter.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC, evacuated its supply lines on Wednesday amid the tremors. But about 10 hours later, the chipmaker later said more than 70% of its tools had recovered, per Nikkei.
TSMC is the world’s top producer of advanced semiconductors and a key supplier of critical computer components in the world’s AI craze.
Taiwanese officials said they recorded 315 aftershocks in the 24 hours since the initial 7.2 quake, but the severity of the tremors appears to be decreasing.
The earthquake, which struck at around 8 a.m. Taipei time was measured at 7.2 on the Richter scale by Taiwanese authorities, while US estimates put the quake at a 7.4 magnitude.
