The authorities said there were 96 apartment units and 256 people living in the collapsed building.
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Ten of those killed were in the collapsed apartment block, which is in the two million-populated city of Tainan.
The building’s lower floors pancaked on top of each other in the 6.4 magnitude quake and then the whole structure toppled, raising immediate questions about the quality of materials and workmanship used in its construction in the 1990s.
TAINAN, Taiwan (AP) – Rescuers were searching late Saturday for more than 100people still missing after a powerful, shallow quake struck southern Taiwan before dawn, causing a high-rise residential building to collapse and killing at least 14 people and injuring hundreds.
In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, rescuers search for survivors at a quake site in Tainan, Taiwan.
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The quake, centered in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District, struck at 3:57 a.m. Saturday, toppling nine buildings, all in the neighboring Tainan City. More than 220 people were pulled out from…
Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te says life detectors at the collapsed 17-story high-rise found at least 29 people still alive but trapped inside.
Twelve people – including a newborn baby girl – have been confirmed dead after a 6.4-magnitude natural disaster struck at about 4am on Saturday.
A woman rescued from her room on the sixth floor of the collapsed 16-story building was interviewed by CNA. At least 230 people were pulled out from rubble, as rescuers raced against time to find dozens of others unaccounted for.
A 71-YEAR-OLD MAN, WHO GAVE HIS NAME AS CHANG, said he fetched some tools and a ladder and prised some window bars open to rescue a woman crying for help.
“I was watching TV and after a sudden burst of shaking, I heard a boom,”one neighbor who lived nearby the apartment building told Reuters”. They said that 171 had been rescued from the building, 90 of whom were sent to a hospital.
Some 500 people were injured. Throughout Tainan, 334 people were rescued, the city government said.
Officials said several blocks had collapsed or half collapsed in other parts of the city, with some buildings left leaning at alarming angles.
On Sunday, thousands of rescuers in red, orange, yellow and black uniforms worked on different levels of the folded building that was supported by steel pillars. He said rescuers had to clear rubble to create passages to reach people who were trapped.
“It takes a few hours to complete a search for just one household and sometimes it takes two hours just to go forward 30 centimeters (12 inches)” when the way is blocked by a wall, he said. However, it is not known if the number of missing is accurate since it is only days before the Lunar New Year occurs, and it is likely there were visitors present for the holiday.
Some bullet train services were suspended to the south of Taiwan as inspections were carried out on the tracks for damage, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp said in a statement.
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Questions were being asked if the construction crew had cut corners when building the Wei Guan residential complex that was finished in 1989.
