3 Filipinos hurt in Taiwan earthquake –DMW

ONLY MINOR INJURIES

Three Filipinos suffered minor injuries following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that rocked Taiwan on Wednesday morning, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said Thursday.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, Cacdac said one of the Filipinos suffered minor head injury due to a collapsed ceiling, another had hand injury while evacuating, and another fainted during the earthquake.

“All of them are okay, minor ang kanilang natamong injuries. ‘Yung dalawa nakalabas na sa ospital,” Cacdac said.

(They are all okay as they sustained only minor injuries. The two have already been discharged from the hospital.) 

He said only the one who fainted remains confined at the hospital. 

“Pero stable siya, in good condition. Precautionary medical measures ang sinagawa sa kaniya, just to be sure,” Cacdac said, adding the patient will be discharged from the hospital “in due time.” 

(The patient is stable and in good condition. Precautionary medical measures are just being done, just to be sure.) 

At least nine people died and more than a thousand more got injured due to the earthquake which was the strongest that hit Taiwan in 25 years.

Taiwan’s fire department said the number of injured persons had reached 1,038, and put the total number of missing at 48, including 42 hotel workers.

Financial aid

Cacdac said the injured Filipinos will receive financial assistance from the government. He said the DMW is currently coordinating with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan for the distribution of the aid. 

More than 159,000 Filipinos are currently residing in Taiwan. Cacdac said that about 65% of them are factory workers living in dormitories, while the remaining 35% work in households as caretakers.

“Wala naman tayong natanggap na ulat na may structural damage sa mga dorms,” he said. 

(We have not received any reports of structural damage in the dorms.)

The DMW official also said that no Filipino has sought assistance yet to get repatriated after the earthquake. 

President Ferdinand ”Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday ensured that the government is ready to help Filipinos in Taiwan who were affected by the earthquake.

Wednesday’s temblor, the strongest in 25 years, hit just as people were readying to go to work and school, focused on the largely rural and sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien.

Buildings also shook violently in the capital Taipei, but damage and disruption there was minimal. —with Reuters/KBK, GMA Integrated News