Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/11
By: CNA coverage team, Shih Hsiu-chuan and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) Melody Albano Castro came to Taiwan from the Philippines three years ago to save up for an operation her husband needs, but before she could realize that goal her life was tragically cut short this week when an earthquake struck the eastern city of Hualien, killing at least 16 people.

The body of the 28-year-old was found Thursday evening in the half-collapsed Yun Men Tsui Ti building, one of the buildings most seriously damaged by the earthquake.

Prior to her death, Castro was working as a caregiver for the family of Taiwan-born Japanese Mrs. Sumin Okubo (大久保淑珉). She took care of Mrs. Okubo’s younger brother who lived with Mr. and Mrs. Okubo.

Mrs. Okubo told CNA that Castro came to Taiwan to work three years ago.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-10

Premier William Lai was in the central Taiwan city of Taichung on Saturday; it was part

of a regional visit to learn more about local efforts to promote the government’s Long Term Care 2.0. That’s President Tsai Ing-wen’s program for taking care of the growing elderly population in Taiwan.

During his trip, Premier Lai said the goal of bringing government ministers on the regional visits is to understand problems with implementation. He said, though, that his trip to Taichung showed him that the city will have no problems rolling out the government’s plans.

One of the places the premier visited in Taichung was Origin Living Workshop, a unique café which looks after the needs of the elderly. Lai interacted with elderly customers who were playing board games, and listened to a report from the venue’s founder.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan  
Date: 2018/02/10
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan at 3:48 p.m. Saturday, with Yilan County registering a 4 on the intensity scale, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the quake was located 32.9 kilometers northeast of Hualien County hall, at a depth of 9.3 km, said the CWB.

Four on the intensity scale was reported in Yilan County’s Nan’ao, while the neighboring township of Heping in Hualien County experienced a 3, according to the weather bureau.

A minor intensity of 2 was also felt in Hualien’s Tailuge Township, as well as Yilan County’s Nanshan, Niudou and Yanliao, and Taichung’s Hehuanshan.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/10
By: Hao Hsueh-chin and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) A labrador rescue dog from Taichung Fire Bureau was treated by

a local veterinarian on Saturday after sustaining a paw injury during search and rescue work in Hualien County this week.

The four-year old canine, named Tie-hsiung, is one of the rescue dogs sent by the bureau to help search for people buried in partially collapsed buildings in the aftermath of the Hualien earthquake that struck late Tuesday.

Although it was Tie-hsiung’s first mission, he soon became a media sensation after finding a survivor at the Marshal Hotel, one of the collapsed buildings, on his first day on the job.

Instantly hailed a hero dog, team members praised Tie-hsiung for going above and beyond the call of duty, despite carrying an injury on his front right paw from stepping on pieces of sharp debris.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2018
By: Peng Wan-hsin  /  Staff reporter

The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary

Disappearances is set to deliberate whether to pursue the case of jailed Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) after learning about his situation, a member of Lee’s rescue team said.

Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), on Wednesday presented her husband’s case at a convention of the UN working group in Brussels, detailing Beijing’s refusal to allow his family to visit or contact him, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said on Friday.

The working group is to discuss whether to keep Lee Ming-che’s case or forward it to other UN working groups, Chiu said.

Lee Ching-yu and other members of the rescue team, including Chiu and Covenants Watch chief executive Huang Yi-bee (黃怡碧), talked with staff from the UN working group for 40 minutes, the association said.    [FULL  STORY]

Voice of America
Date: February 09, 2018
By: Ralph Jennings

HUALIEN CITY, TAIWAN — Most survivors of Tuesday night’s strong earthquake in

Taiwan escaped because they were on high floors that did not collapse, allowing rescue workers to find them.

As of Friday morning, 830 people had left the four collapsed or damaged buildings in the Pacific coast city of Hualien. Many broke windows or climbed out via balconies to escape the two worst-hit buildings, a 10-story hotel and a 12-story commercial-residential complex. Firefighters waited below with ladders.

 

The quake killed 10 people, including hotel guests and workers who were on lower levels of the buildings when the quake struck at 11:50 p.m. Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau recorded the quake as a magnitude 6 at its epicenter off the coast, and in Hualien it was felt with an intensity of 7, enough to cause widespread damage.
{FULL  STORY]

US News and World Report
Date: Feb. 9, 2018
By Fabian Hamacher and Natalie Thomas

HUALIEN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Rescue operations in Taiwan started to wind down on

Friday after a devastating 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the tourist area of Hualien this week, taking a toll of 12 dead and five missing.
More than 270 people were injured when Tuesday’s quake hit the eastern coastal city just before midnight, toppling four buildings, ripping large fissures in roads and unleashing panic among the roughly 100,000 residents.
More than 200 aftershocks followed, hampering a round-the-clock rescue effort in which emergency personnel 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, identified as Canadian citizens from Hong Kong, out of a 12-storey residential building that had been left tilting at a 45-degree angle.    [FULL  STORY]

A total of 4,881 rescuers, 24 rescue dogs, 146 vehicles and five helicopters have joined the post-quake rescue operations

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/09
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of 4,881 rescuers, 24 rescue dogs, 146 vehicles and five helicopters have joined the post-quake rescue operations in Hualien City in eastern Taiwan.

In the meantime, large sums of money have been donated by people in various sectors of the country, relief supplies and and services from local business sectors and non-governmental organizations have been pouring in to the city to help the victims and people affected by the quake.

The magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Hualien late Feb. 6, causing partial collapse of the Yun Men Tsui Ti building, the Marshal Hotel, and two other residential complexes in the city and leaving at least 12 people dead as of Friday evening.    [FULL  STORY]