Landslide buries 3 in Yanchao, Kaohsiung / 燕巢土石坍方掩埋民宅 3人不幸罹難　　　　　　　　　　

Strong winds and heavy rains brought by Typhoon Megi have caused landslides and mudslides all over the island. One house in Kaohsiung's Yanchao district was buried under the sudden landslide, and three bodies were found yesterday afternoon. The three bodies belong to the same family, a couple in the 80s and their 50 year old son. The 3 of them were found in the mother's room, who was disabled for medical reasons. Officials speculated that the father and the son may have dashed into the mother's room to help her leave the house, but all three of them failed to escape. On the second day of the rescue operations, bodies of the three Yanchao residents were found on the first floor of their home. Soldiers carried the bodies out to the ambulance. An elderly couple in their 80s and their 50-year-old son lived in the two-story house. The couple's other children hurried to the scene as soon as they learned the news on September 28. By the midday of September 29, there was still no progress from the rescue operations. It was the watery mud that made rescue efforts difficult. ==WANG TSUNG-CHAN, 4th Dept. Chief, Kaohsiung Fire Bureau== When heavy machines have not arrived, we used metal cutters and iron cutting saws. It was much slower. Therefore, we must use heavy machines for the rescue work. Rescue teams then decided to tear down the remaining parts of the house in hopes that the victims were still alive. One hour later, three bodies were discovered in the same room on the first floor of the house. In view of the incident, Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen-chu said that in the future, preventive evacuation will be implemented in more areas. ==CHEN-CHU, Kaohsiung City Mayor== The area is composed of mudstone. We will put houses constructed on this type of sedimentary rock on the list of mandatory evacuation areas when there is typhoon, or heavy rainstorm. Chen emphasized that evaluation will be made for houses on the hills or in mountain valleys. People in those areas may be evacuated during emergency situations to prevent similar incidents. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH 協助搜救的國軍弟兄抬著施老太太的大體，走出坍方土堆，搜救第2天，終於找到被埋在房子裡的施家三口。 颱風前房子裡原本住了80歲施姓夫婦和50歲小兒子，28日房子一樓被土石掩埋後，其它子女陸續從外地趕來現場，希望搜救行動能有好消息，但是含水量高的泥土，讓人工搜救很困難，直到今天下午，原本都還沒有進展。 ==高雄市消防局第四大隊長 王宗展== 重機械還沒到場的時候 是先用人工 它用人工的時候 我們用我們的切割器 還有尖刀鋸 鋸的速度 一定勢必比較慢 所以我們的策略 一定是要採用重機械來處理 家屬決定拆除房子2樓和外牆後，搜救人員更方便挖掘一樓的泥土，果然不到一小時就在同一個房間找到三人，只可惜其中沒有生還者。因為這次意外屬於泥岩地形造成的大量土石坍方，不是土石流，高雄市長陳菊稍早前到場關心，強調未來會擴大認定預防性撤離的區域。 ==高雄市長 陳菊== 類似這種過去毫無的泥漿 我們這種泥漿岩的地形 將來也是會列為我們 如果強風豪雨颱風 這個都會列為我們 將來要強制撤離的地區 陳菊強調，面對極端氣候，未來在山邊、山谷的房子，都會根據地形地質，評估撤離，避免再有類似災情發生。 記者 王介村 許政俊 高雄報導