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Quake Rattles Taiwan as Typhoon Aid Arrives
By Mat Probasco
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Posted Aug 17, 09 4:43 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Disaster-weary Taiwanese were shaken awake this morning as a strong earthquake rattled the island still recovering from its deadly typhoon, reports Reuters. No casualties or damage was immediately reported after the 6.7 tremblor struck about 116 miles off Taiwan's east coast at 8:05 am—just hours after the first foreign Typhoon Morakot aid shipments arrived.
Taipei taxi drivers were helping race supplies—plastic sheeting for make-shift houses, food, and water purification tablets—from the city to the hardest hit rural areas. Rescue crews were struggling to reach more than 1,000 people still stranded a week after the storm, which killed some 500 people. President Ma Ying-jeou offered a second apology for the slow response to the disaster