We are lucky and grateful, say Hongkongers after escaping unhurt in Taiwan
Some Hongkongers in Taiwan have expressed relief at escaping unhurt amid a powerful earthquake that rocked the island’s east coast.
Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said 34 residents in Taiwan had sought help as of 8pm yesterday, a day after the deadly quake struck 25km south-southeast of Hualien on Wednesday morning.
All of them had been confirmed safe, a department spokesman said.
The department said it would work with the city’s Travel Industry Authority and Travel Industry Council to provide help, while keeping in contact with affected travellers.
Alan Chan, a 70-year-old retiree living in Taipei, about 120km north of Hualien, said he was lucky he did not suffer significant financial losses during the quake that caused serious damage in the area.
Some tiles in his bathroom fell off when tremors hit. His seventh-floor flat in the Neihu district also developed several cracks, which he believed were caused by the initial tremors or subsequent major aftershocks. One of the cracks nearly stretched from the ground to the ceiling of the 1,076 sq ft flat that he bought more than 20 years ago.
Chan, an avid collector of model buses, said: “Almost all the plastic cases of my collections have cracked.”
He said his collection of dozens of model buses from Hong Kong had fallen and the porridge he was preparing for breakfast had spilled out during the quake.
In Chan’s community, visible damage was observed, such as broken glass on balconies of residential buildings and fallen overhead power cables.
But their daily lives remained largely unaffected, with public transport operating normally, except for the disruption on the Circular line of the New Taipei Metro because a section of the rails was bent out of shape.
Chan said he had postponed a driving tour he originally planned in two weeks due to a damaged highway connecting Hualien.
Cherry Leung, a tour guide with travel agency EGL, was accompanying 20 Hong Kong residents on a five-day trip to Taichung, Miaoli and Taipei that started on Sunday. She expressed her gratitude that everyone was safe and that their travel plans remained unaffected.
When the earthquake struck, Leung’s group was in a hotel in Taichung. No visible damage was observed in the vicinity. The group completed its itinerary in Taipei as scheduled and returned to Hong Kong yesterday evening.
Leung said road conditions to Taoyuan International Airport were normal, with only minor congestion at certain points.
“We are lucky and it’s also unforgettable,” she said.
“As Hongkongers, we rarely experience earthquakes and now we’ve encountered such a strong one. In Taichung, the magnitude was about five. I am grateful that no one was injured.”