MECO Confirms Missing Filipina Among Dead in Taiwan Quake

The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) on Thursday night confirmed that the missing Filipina from the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that hit Hualien, Taiwan on Tuesday was found dead in the rubble of a building she was trapped in.

In a television interview, Lito Banayo, MECO chairman identified the Filipina as Melody Albano Castro from Abulug, Cagayan Province who was working as a caretaker in Taiwan.

“We have to confirm that unfortunately she was not able to survive the strong earthquake in Hualien,” he said, adding Philippine labor officials had already informed the next of kin.

Asked if the repatriation of the body has been processed, Charmaine Aviquivil, executive director at the DFA-Office of Public Diplomacy said the team from MECO already returned to the site “to see what they can do.”

The official noted that the repatriation of the body “varies from country-to-country.”

“Right now it is only confirmed earlier,” she said in a telephone interview. “We will know more as soon as the official report from MECO is received.”

According to reports, death toll from four yesterday already rose to 10 as rescuers rake through the collapsed establishments to search for more than a dozen people still missing. (PNA)