Taiwan Earthquake Victim Search Ends

Rescue workers in Taiwan have recovered all the remains of the victims of the recent earthquake.

The final remains were pulled Saturday from a flattened a 17-story apartment building in Tainan, a city of 2 million residents.

Officials say 116 people died in the 6.4-magnitude quake.  Most of the victims died in The Wei-guan, the collapsed apartment building. The developer of the building and two other men associated with the structure have been arrested.

Social-media posts and news reports said the February 6 earthquake recalled a disastrous earthquake that killed thousands of people in September 1999.  That quake, one of the strongest to hit Taiwan during the 20th century, had a magnitude of 7.7.  

Tainan is the base of operations for high-tech companies, including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

A spokeswoman at TSMC said the quake damaged the company’s facilities in Tainan.  The company is a major supplier to global smartphone makers, including Apple. The quake also caused widespread problems on Taiwan’s high-speed rail network, stranding many passengers.  

 

Quake-prone Taiwan is in a highly active seismic zone known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” and more than 50 fault lines pass through the island.

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