First batch of the fire fighters arrived to the village by helicopters to investigate disaster situation on the 11th of this month, searching for victims. The soon found the large landslides have already buried the village. It is difficult to estimate the number of possible victims. One fire department rescuer Su said, when they reached the scene all they can see is a field of yellow mud and rocks, village center, village school were are disappeared. According to the local villagers, five to six hundred people were buried alive.
“During the 9.12 earthquake, you can rescue people from the cracks, but you cannot find people who are buried by the landslide. I am afraid this is the worst disaster in Taiwan that is more serious than 9.12”. Su was very emotional. According to reports, Kobayashi village has about 1600 residence. But the number of people saved from the past few days was far less than the actual number. Yang has already prepared for the worst. The death toll may be around 300 people.
Yang said, in addition to Kobayashi, there are many other surrounding villages which were the worst hit areas, but so far Kobayashi village has the most people buried alive.
According to reports, the relief operations continued. Although we do not give up any hope yet we are also preparing for the worst. Kaohsiung County has prepared 1100 body bags, to send to the worst hit areas, among them there are 250 in Kobayashi.
In Kobayashi village except for the villagers have already been rescued, you cannot find any people and even buildings. The neighboring village “Big Tamura” was not affected as much, but because it is located in the lower reaches of Kobayashi, many victim’s bodies have drifted there.
Southern Taiwan endures serious disaster with much sorrow. Many dilapidated remains of the unfortunate victims were incomplete. Kaohsiung County also sent two large ice garages for temporary storage. In the next few days they will announced the autopsy and DNA identification process.
Taiwan’s Disaster Response Center yesterday announced the latest statistics of casualties, a total of 108 people were killed and 45 were injured, 62 missing. It is learned that the reason why the number of deaths increased dramatically, mainly because of 32 buried bodies were found at Kaohsiung County hot springs.
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