At least 3 dead, hundreds injured after magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes Taiwan

A powerful earthquake toppled a 17-story apartment building in southern Taiwan on Saturday, killing at least three people, including a 10-day-old girl, and triggering frantic efforts to rescue dozens of people feared trapped inside.

The baby and a 40-year-old man are the only confirmed deaths from the building, a complex of towers whose floors pancaked down onto to each other when the 6.4 magnitude tremor struck just before 4 a.m. (2000 GMT), at the start of a Lunar New Year holiday.

The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.7, was centered 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Tainan, a city of nearly 2 million people.

Photos of a building near collapse as well as several photos of buildings that came down surface on Twitter shortly after. The local government has formed an emergency response team, Express reported.

"Collapsed buildings reported in Tainan, with rescue workers arriving on scene," Taiwan's China Post newspaper wrote, per Express. "The city government there has set up a level one emergency response center. Onlookers are urged not to block access to emergency crews moving into the area."

The USGS said the quake was very shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), which would have amplified its effects.

People in Taiwan reported on Twitter feeling the earthquake, with many saying it felt strong.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau also measured a second quake of 4.3 magnitude centered in Tainan.

According to the USGS, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake can cause severe damage. 

 

The quake initially cut power to 168,000 households in Tainan, many of whose residents lived through a massive 1999 tremor that killed about 2,400 people. Later, utility Taipower said power had been restored to all but about 900 households.

Taiwan lies in the seismically active "Pacific Ring of Fire". Television quoted Tainan residents as saying the quake felt worse than the 1999 tremor, centered in central Taiwan.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which in is charge of Beijing's relations with the self-ruled island, said China was willing to provide help if needed, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said. Beijing regards Taiwan as a wayward province.

Taiwan's Formosa TV said its reporters could hear the cries of people trapped inside the collapsed apartment tower as firefighters, police and troops swarmed the area. The defense ministry said 810 soldiers had been mobilized for rescue efforts.

Firefighters hosed down part of the building to prevent a fire while others used ladders and a crane to enter upper floors. The building appeared to have collapsed onto the first story where a child's clothes fluttered on a laundry line.

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.

(Additional Reuters reporting by J.R. Wu, Faith Hung, Carol Lee, Eric Walsh, Eric Beech, Elizabeth Dilts and Ben Blanchard; Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Robert Birsel)