By Roy Mabasa
The Manila Economic Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan has identified the overseas Filipino worker who went missing in Taiwan after the island nation was struck by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake Tuesday night.
Rescuers search for people in a damaged building in Hualien the day after a magnitude 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit the eastern Taiwan city on the night of 06 February 2018. EPA-EFE/RITCHIE B. TONGO/MANILA BULLETIN
MECO chief Angelito Banayo said the missing Filipina, Melody Albano Castro, is employed as a caretaker in an nursing home for the elderly at the devastated city of Hualien.
Based on initial reports, the missing Filipina is one of 56 people trapped in a 12-storey apartment that collapsed due to the massive earthquake.
In a television interview, Banayo said they rang up Castro's mobile phone several times but no one was picking up.
"We can only pray that she is safe," he said.
Banayo also disclosed that another Filipino worker was among the 256 people who were injured following the quake that hit Hualien, eastern Taiwan's second largest city.  However, he said they were unable to identify the injured Filipino since he (or she) was immediately discharged from the hospital after being treated for minor injuries.
Current data obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs showed that an estimated 150,000 Filipinos are working and living in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, aftershocks continue to rattle Taiwan after Tuesday night's quake killed at least seven people.
A 5.7-magnitude tremor was felt late on Wednesday, in the same area where the 6.4-magnitude quake struck.
Tuesday night's massive tremor happened exactly two years after an earthquake hit Taiwan's Tainan city that killed at least 116 people.
Taiwan sits near a junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes. According to the Taiwanese government, Taiwan has been rocked by more than 100 earthquakes so far this month.