Trapped in tunnelsRescue efforts continued elsewhere across the county, with authorities working to reach more than 600 people either trapped in strongly built tunnels or cut off in remote areas — though they were believed to be safe.Hualien county, on Taiwan’s eastern coast, is home to a network of tunnels that allow drivers to traverse the region’s picturesque mountains.The bulk of the people trapped include some in a hotel near Taroko National Park, as well as workers in a nearby tunnel — now completely cut off after a series of landslides hit the main highway leading to it.Footage captured by a drone of an open-cut tunnel in a mountain released by Taiwan’s National Fire Agency showed people waving, standing unharmed next to damaged vehicles.Authorities had cordoned off a section of Su Hua highway on Thursday, the site of a massive landslide that killed two drivers the day before when they were crushed by falling boulders.Massive rocks blocked road tunnels, while uprooted trees could be seen on the cliffs by the highway still shrouded with clouds of dust.The quake killed at least nine people and injured more than 1,064, although authorities did not specify how seriously.Tilting buildingsIn Hualien’s main city, workers poured concrete at the base of the glass-fronted Uranus building — so badly damaged it now tilts at a 45-degree angle.It has now become a symbol for the quake but, for 59-year-old Chen Hsiu-ying, it was her home.Sheltering at the elementary school, she told AFP she was on her way home from work when the earthquake occurred.”If I had gone back earlier, I would have been inside,” the carpenter said.
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