Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) National flags at government agencies and schools around Taiwan were flown at half-mast on Wednesday to remember those who died during an earthquake in Hualien earlier this month.
The Cabinet announced on Tuesday that today would be a day of remembrance for the victims of the magnitude 6 earthquake that hit Hualien County in eastern Taiwan late Feb. 6, resulting in 17 fatalities and 285 people being injured.
According to Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung, flying the national flag at half-mast follows the precedent set by the previous governments, which did so following an earthquake in September 1999, Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, the Kaohsiung gas explosions and a fatal plane crash in Penghu both in 2014 and the Tainan earthquake in 2016.
All central and local government agencies, as well as schools nationwide, will fly the flag at half-mast for the whole day, Hsu said.
Two weeks after the earthquake, the central government continues to work with the local government to rebuild and help the victims rebuild the lives, he said.
