At least five aftershocks of 3.8-magnitude or more shook Tainan about half an hour after the initial quake, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.
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Rescuers pulled 247 survivors from the rubble in the worst-hit Tainan city.
The 6.4 magnitude quake struck before dawn on Saturday, sparking an emergency rescue response which has seen 221 rescued.
Local media said a woman was killed in a water tower collapse in another city district, and no information was immediately available for the two other deaths.
Authorities said two people were killed by falling objects elsewhere in Tainan.
The quake was initially reported as having a magnitude of 6.7, but was later downgraded to 6.4.
Rescuers mounted hydraulic ladders and a crane to scour the ruins, plucking more than 220 survivors to safety, with dozens taken to hospital, a fire brigade official said.
More than 60 people in the city remain hospitalized, disaster officials said.
But firefighters said rescue efforts were focused on the Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building apartment block.
She reports that news footage shows people escaping damaged buildings in their pajamas. It was located some 22 miles (36 kilometers) southeast of Yujing, and struck about 6 miles (10 kilometers) underground. The trappings of daily life – a partially crushed air conditioner, pieces of a metal balcony, windows – lay twisted in rubble.
“Damage to wafers in progress remains under assessment, but TSMC’s initial estimate is that more than 95 percent of the tools can be fully restored to normal in two to three days”, the chipmaker said in a statement.
A 71-year-old neighbour of one collapsed building, who gave his name as Chang, said: “I was watching TV and after a sudden burst of shaking, I heard a boom”. “Now I just feel anxious for the people in Tainan, where buildings collapsed”.
Men in camouflage, apparently military personnel, marched into one area of collapse carrying large shovels.
Rescuers have freed more than 200 people from the Wei-kuan building, with over 40 of them hospitalised.
The disaster response centre said 1,236 rescuers were deployed, including 840 from the army, along with six helicopters and 23 rescue dogs.
“This was strong enough to not only be felt here in the [Taiwanese] capital city of Taipei but also in the southern provinces of China, Elise Hu, an NPR correspondent who was in Taipei when the quake hit, said in an interview with CNN”. But this time, the impact was pretty much huge, and after tremors were felt even in mainland of China.
Questions were being asked about whether the construction crew had cut corners when building the Wei Guan residential complex, which was finished in 1989.
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Officials, including the country’s interior minister, say they will conduct an investigation into the building’s collapse, according to CNA.
