TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Rescue teams from other parts of the country gradually returned home Saturday after work in Tainan to find the victims of survivors of the February 6 earthquake seemed to be reaching completion.
By Saturday afternoon, two people were still missing at the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex in the Yongkang District, with the total death toll for the 6.4 quake reaching 115.
After a week of work, most teams from outside of Tainan were returning home, with the exception of groups from Hsinchu County, Miaoli County and the Keelung harbor authority who were in charge of providing water, the Tainan Fire Department said.
All other teams reached an agreement to leave Tainan by 1 p.m. Saturday, with the exception of the Hsinchu City team which continued until 5 p.m., reports said.
During the first critical 72 hours, as many as 300 volunteers from private groups helped with the rescue effort, but they were later asked to leave because the use of heavy machinery might endanger them, officials said. Under “Operation Big Steel Teeth,” bulldozers, cranes and heavy digging equipment were brought in, restricting the room for movement by rescue workers and creating a lot of dust. As a result, the hardest work was left up to local and official rescue teams, the authorities said.
More than 2,000 soldiers had also been mobilized, making it unnecessary to call for international assistance or for more volunteers, the fire department said.
The authorities had reportedly faced criticism for not allowing enough rescue workers closer to the building, but there was just no room and no need for such a large concentration of people in and around the area, according to experts.