Taiwan says aid reaching hundreds of people stranded by quake

Taiwan officials said aid is flowing to hundreds of people on the island’s eastern side who are still stranded by road closures and debris following the island’s worst earthquake since 1999.

Wednesday’s quake left 10 people dead and more than 1,100 injured, with 13 still unaccounted for, according to the latest report from emergency personnel. The death toll could still rise as rescue crews dig through the rubble in some areas and the search for missing people continues.

Emergency teams have used helicopters to deliver supplies including food and water to a hotel, church and elementary school where people have been stuck since the magnitude 7.4 temblor hit.

Aftershocks have continued to reverberate on the island since Wednesday, though their intensity has been declining. A magnitude 5.4 quake struck northeast of Hualien county in eastern Taiwan around 1 p.m. local time Friday, shaking office buildings about 99 miles away in Taipei.

The island’s economy has rebounded quickly, with Taiwan’s critical semiconductor industry restarting most operations within about a day of the quake. Some of that is attributed to technological advances and tighter building codes revised after the 1999 quake, which killed more than 2,400 people.