Rescue operations in Taiwan started on Friday after a terrible 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the tourist area of Hualien this week, taking a toll of 12 dead and 5 missing. More than 270 people were injured when Tuesday's quake hit the eastern city just before midnight, breaking four buildings, causing panic among the roughly 100,000 residents. More than 200 aftershocks followed a round-the-clock rescue effort in which people battled rain and cold to comb rubble in a search for survivors.
Efforts on Friday narrowed to finding five Chinese nationals still missing after rescuers pulled two bodies, considered as Canadian citizens from Hong Kong, out of a 12-storey building that had been left a 45-degree angle. Authorities said they would focus their search on the single building where the five missing were believed to be. "The military will continue to work today rescuing the missing people in the Yun Men Tsui Ti residential building," it said in a statement.
The building which was out of shape made the search tough, the government said in a statement, adding, "The space for our operations is small, so the progress of search and rescue can be slow." Power was restored to all affected areas in Hualien, although 8,500 homes are still without water.
The military will work with local government officials to develop a plan to help. The officials promised to revise building regulations, aiming to limit damage in the future. The revision was expected to be discussed at the end of February. They added that it would reconstruct old buildings to make them earthquake-resistant and work to improve the safety of other structures in affected areas.
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