TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —  Two more buildings have partially collapsed after a series of earthquakes struck Hualien early on Tuesday morning (April 23), bringing the total number of empty buildings damaged that day to four. 

A series of increasingly stronger earthquakes struck Hualien County starting at 5 p.m. on Monday (April 22), peaking with a magnitude 6.3 temblor that occurred at 2:32 a.m. on Tuesday. A condemned home and an idle factory are the latest structures to have been reported to have suffered serious damage from the tremors.

Teng Tzu-yu (鄧子榆), director of Hualien County's Department of Public Works told CNA that an abandoned factory on Ziqiang Road in Ji'an Township had been impacted by the quakes. Teng said the first floor of the two-story factory completely collapsed on Tuesday.

He said that this abandoned factory had been labeled as code red, the highest level of damage, following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on April 3. According to Teng, the sheet metal roofing on a nearby warehouse and steak restaurant was also damaged by falling debris from the factory, prompting authorities to temporarily cordon off the area. 

Teng said the collapsed factory would be included in the demolition list, with utilities to nearby residences cut off first. The condition of nearby affected buildings will be reassessed to determine if they should also be included in the demolition list.

That morning, Hualien County Government also received a report that the first floor of a two-story house in Yanliao Village in Hualien County's Shoufeng Township partially collapsed, per CNA. The building was listed as code red after the quake on April 3. The residents had already moved out, and its collapse did not cause any casualties.

Code red refers to buildings where primary structures, such as columns, beams, exterior walls, floors, and foundation voids, are damaged or the building is leaning to a certain extent. Code yellow refers to buildings where non-primary structures, such as interior partitions or ceilings, are damaged or nearby buildings are leaning to a certain extent.

As for the other two damaged buildings, Teng said Full Hotel (富凱大飯店) on Zhongshan Road and Tong Shuai building (統帥大樓) on Mingli Road in downtown Hualien had buckled and are tilting. Teng said Tong Shuai building had been listed as code red, while Full Hotel had not been listed but was closed and unoccupied for renovations.