Woman dies trying to rescue cat from earthquake-hit building

Hualien County, April 3 (CNA) A woman attempting to rescue her pet cat from a building that collapsed in Hualien following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake Wednesday has been found dead, according to local firefighters.

The woman escaped the initial tremor unharmed but became trapped by an aftershock that struck after she reentered the eight-story mixed-use block on Xuanyuan Road, the Hualien County Fire Department said.

First responders later found the 33-year-old woman, surnamed Kang (康), pinned under a column with no vital signs around 2 pm, the department added.

Kang, a senior high school teacher, was last seen telling neighbors she was returning to the building to rescue her cat, according to the department.

A total of 24 others were rescued from the 38-year-old building, four of whom required hospitalization, the department said.

One of the building’s residents, a woman surnamed Lin (林), told CNA that her mother had been injured by a falling shoe cabinet.

Another resident, surnamed Yu (游), said that his wife had to be rescued from their eighth-floor apartment after the earthquake rendered the building’s stairs unusable.

The partial building collapse was one of several in Hualien caused by Wednesday’s earthquake, the strongest in Taiwan for nearly 25 years.

A five-story family home on Beibin Street in the eastern city’s downtown also caved in and tilted into the street.

All nine adults and three children living in the building escaped unharmed from the collapse, which left the first floor entirely destroyed, the homeowner, surnamed Wu (吳), told reporters.

Wu said he was using his computer when the earthquake struck and the intense shaking caused him to lose his balance and injure his foot.

His TV, wall paintings, and a steel cabinet all toppled to the ground, Wu said, adding that he managed to escape through a second-floor window.

(By Chang Chi, Lee Hui-ting and Evelyn Kao)

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