The official death toll from Wednesday's magnitude-7.4 quake still stood at 10, but the government in the hardest-hit area of Hualien county said two more people on a hiking trail were found with "no signs of life".
Crushed by a landslide, the two people were buried deep beneath massive boulders, making it difficult for workers to get to them.
"Their bodies have been found, but they have not been excavated yet. We will add them to the death toll after they are excavated and identified," said Interior Minister Lin Yu-chang.
Hundreds more were still stranded around the mountains that flank the county on Friday, with roads blocked off by landslides and rockfalls. However, most were known to be safe as rescuers deployed helicopters, drones and smaller teams with dogs to reach them.
Rescuers had found nine people alive in a cave popular with tourists called the Tunnel of Nine Turns on Friday.
Lin said that progress was "ahead of schedule".
"There are still aftershocks and rocks falling but in a very short period of about five hours today, we have managed to repair 10 kilometres of roads," he said.
In the main city of Hualien, authorities allowed residents to enter a building with a crumbling facade in 15-minute intervals so that they could retrieve their belongings.
Some opted to throw mattresses and bags of clothing out the window, while a young mother slowly carried a cot out for her 10-month-old baby.
"We are told the building has become dangerous and there probably won't be another chance to move our things afterwards," said the 24-year-old woman surnamed Chen.
"During the big quake... I was only thinking about protecting my baby at the time," she said. "I didn't expect it to be so serious and the structure below has become like that."
Ten minutes away, workers started demolishing a building named Uranus -- tilting at a 45-degree angle after half its first floor pancaked -- by first using a pink crane to smash its glass windows.
The plan was to slowly take it apart -- a process that could take two weeks -- but an aftershock around 1 pm alarmed the construction team as the building appeared to lean more perilously forward.
As rain drizzled across the city, workers accelerated the process, inserting giant metal bars to stabilise the structure.
Next to the Uranus, a digital sign on another building blared, "Don't give up! Hualien add oil!" -- using a Chinese expression of support.
The national disaster agency said 10 people had been killed and 1,123 injured -- though the severity of the wounded was not specified.
More than 630 were stranded but accounted for, while authorities had lost contact with 13.
- Stranded, but safe -
Rescuers set off early Friday to airdrop boxes of food and supplies to a group of students, teachers, residents and some tourists stuck at an elementary school that was inaccessible.
Some were also airlifted out from a luxury hotel, the Silks Place Taroko, that had converted its parking lot into a makeshift helicopter landing pad.
One of the places cut off was a youth hostel, where a staffer told AFP on Thursday that more than 50 people -- including a Briton and four German nationals -- were stuck waiting for roads to be cleared.
"We are all safe and have enough supplies. The damaged roads are being repaired," the staffer surnamed Lin said, adding that she was hopeful they could leave by Friday afternoon.
But the light rain which started around noon meant more precarious conditions, said Wu Bao-lung, a search and rescue team leader, who was near the park's entrance.
"I've asked my colleagues to watch out for their safety... The collapse inside is quite serious, and there are constant aftershocks today, but we will still try our best," he told reporters.
In Taiwan's north, life continued as normal, though remnants of the quake damage could still be seen.
One sky train rail in New Taipei City appeared to have been dislodged, with engineers and welders working to fix the line, while alleys around Taipei where debris was still falling were cordoned off.
Wednesday's quake was the most serious in Taiwan since a magnitude-7.6 seism hit the island in 1999.
The death toll then was far higher -- with 2,400 people killed in the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.
Stricter regulations -- including enhanced seismic requirements in its building codes -- and widespread public disaster awareness appeared to have staved off a more serious catastrophe this time around.
Families shelter in tents as rescuers seek people cut off by Taiwan quake
Hualien, Taiwan (AFP) April 4, 2024 -
Relief workers set aside stuffed toys, blankets and baby formula for families sheltering Thursday in an elementary school in Hualien, the epicentre of Taiwan's biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century.
"We have all the necessary stuff -- blankets, toilet and a place to rest," said Indonesian Hendri Sutrisno, who occupied a tent with his wife and two-month-old baby.
The 30-year-old professor at Hualien's Dong Hwa University and his family were among more than 100 people who chose to stay in tents set up at an elementary school after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday.
The aftershocks of the quake -- the biggest since a 7.6 magnitude disaster in 1999 killed 2,400 people -- came thick and fast, and by Thursday morning Hualien county had experienced hundreds of rolling tremors.
Hendri said he and his wife hid under a table with their baby when the first quake hit, before grabbing their things and fleeing the building.
"Our worry is when the big aftershocks happen it might be really hard for us to evacuate one more time -- especially with the baby," he told AFP.
"So it will be better, wiser for us to stay here," he said as the infant slept in a stroller.
- Trapped in tunnels -
Rescue efforts continued elsewhere across the county, with authorities working to reach more than 700 people either trapped in strongly built tunnels or cut off in remote areas -- though they were believed to be safe.
Hualien county, on Taiwan's eastern coast, is home to a network of tunnels that allow drivers to traverse the region's picturesque mountains.
The bulk of the people trapped include some in a hotel near Taroko National Park, as well as workers in a nearby tunnel -- now completely cut off after a series of landslides hit the main highway leading to it.
Footage captured by a drone of an open-cut tunnel in a mountain released by Taiwan's National Fire Agency showed people waving, standing unharmed next to damaged vehicles.
Authorities had cordoned off a section of Su Hua highway on Thursday, the site of a massive landslide that killed two the day before when they were crushed by falling boulders.
Massive rocks blocked road tunnels, while uprooted trees could be seen on the cliffs by the highway still shrouded with clouds of dust.
The quake killed at least 10 people and injured nearly 1,100, although authorities did not specify how seriously.
- Tilting buildings -
In Hualien's main city, workers poured concrete at the base of the glass-fronted Uranus building -- so badly damaged it now tilts at a 45-degree angle.
It has now become a symbol for the quake but, for 59-year-old Chen Hsiu-ying, it was her home.
Sheltering at the elementary school, she told AFP she was on her way home from work when the earthquake occurred.
"If I had gone back earlier, I would have been inside," the carpenter said.
She also said she was shocked to see the road shaking and the food vendors on the streets shuddering during the quake.
"My hands are still shaking, they still haven't recovered. This was the first time I experienced this," Chen said, adding that she was anxious to get her things from the skewed building.
"I still have my belongings in there, such as a photo of my mother," she said.
More than a dozen people had opted to return home by morning, although many -- especially those with children -- stayed on in the tents.
Hendri said he was hoping Thursday would be the family's last day at the shelter.
"I will go by it to take a look and talk to the staff there and see if it's safe to go upstairs," he said.
"Yesterday they said it wasn't safe."
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