JUSTICE:Simon Chang also vowed to assist the city government in seeking compensation for residents if a toppled building was found to have been jerry-built

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 08, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with CNA

Premier Simon Chang (張善政) yesterday pledged to provide all necessary

assistance to the Tainan City Government and people affected by Saturday’s earthquake, which has killed 29 people and injured more than 500.

Chang made the remarks after visiting people wounded after the magnitude 6.4 quake at Tainan’s Sin-Lau Hospital yesterday morning, where an injured mother begged the premier to help find her two missing sons.

“This injured woman was a resident at the toppled 17-story Weiguan Jinlong apartment building in the city’s Yongkang District (永康). She lost her husband and 10-day-old daughter during the earthquake. Her two boys are still trapped under the ruins of the building,” Chang said.

The premier said it was heart-wrenching to learn of the plight of the woman, who wept as she told her story.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/08
By: Bear Lee

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) The number of people who died in a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck southern Taiwan early Saturday has risen to 34 as of 9:55 p.m. Sunday, according to official figures.

Rescue works has been continuing for the 121 who were believed to be trapped in a 16-story residential building in Tainan City’s Yongkang District.

The quake, centered at the Meilong district of Kaohsiung City at 03:57 a.m. Saturday, has toppled nine buildings in Tainan, injured 515 people and left 121 unaccounted.

A total of 310 have been rescued, with 100 of them rushed to hospitals for treatments.      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/07
By: Chao Li-yen, Chiang Chun-liang, Yang Ssu-jui and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) “Yes! Thank you!” Huang Guang-wei (黃洸偉), 20, shouted when he was freed Sunday from the rubble of the 16-story Weiguan Jinlong building in Tainan to cheers from emergency teams and his family.

Huang had been trapped for some 30 hours since around 4 a.m. Saturday, when the residential complex toppled in a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that left 29 people dead as of Sunday afternoon.

Rescue workers had to cut though steel bars to get to Huang, who was eventually pulled out and taken to a hospital. He had several bruises but appeared to be in good condition otherwise.

Another man was also pulled from the rubble Sunday, after rescue workers heard him knocking on what used to be the 9th floor of the building.     [FULL  STORY]

Shanghai Daily
Date: February 7, 2016
Source: Xinhua

THE death toll of a powerful earthquake that struck southern Taiwan has

reached 26 by Sunday, the latest statistics from a local fire agency said.

A total of 356 people have been rescued in Tainan. At least 132 people are still waiting for rescue, a local rescue command center said.

The 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Kaohsiung at 3:57am Beijing Time on Saturday at a depth of 15 kilometers, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

Local monitoring authorities put the scale of the quake at 6.4 magnitude.

Previous reports said more than 460 people were injured in the quake.

In the historic city of Tainan, eight buildings collapsed and another five were damaged.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-07
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A young survivor surnamed Huang was rescued by search and rescue teams Sunday morning at 10 after hours of intensive efforts to pull him out of the rubble.
A man trapped inside the collapsed Weiguan Jinlong building for the last 30 hours has been rescued by search and rescue teams after eight hours of intensive efforts to pull him out of the rubble, reports said Sunday.

The survivor surnamed Kuo was stranded on the eighth floor of what was previously known as Block B of the apartment complex, which is now laid in ruins as more than 100 people, including 41 children, are still unaccounted for, according to officials.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-07
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Good news continue to stream in as rescue teams confirmed Sunday that a 11-year-old boy living in Block B of the Weiguan Jinlong has been located after been trapped under the rubble for the last 30 hours.

The boy’s identity was established after he tried calling for outside help via Line, a communication app which allows users to make free voice calls and messages, similar to the features of WhatsApp, a highly-popular communication tool in Europe and the United States.

Efforts to pull him out of the debris are currently underway, according to workers at the scene of rescue.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/07
By: Chang Jung-hsiang, Chiang Chun-liang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) The death toll in the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit southern Taiwan early Saturday morning had climbed to 23 as of 12:30 p.m. Sunday, with 121 still unaccounted for, while 282 had been rescued, according to statistics by the Tainan City government.

Among those still missing are four college students who are believed to have been trapped inside a toppled building in Tainan City’s Yongkang District.

Twenty-one of those who perished were residents of Weiguan Jinlong Building, a 16-story block of nearly 300 apartment units. Rescue workers have worked around the clock in frantic efforts to find more survivors there.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-07
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Over 420 households and 180,000 homes are still left with no electricity and running water due to the 6.4 earthquake that struck southern Taiwan, reports said Sunday.

More than 570,000 households were affected in the wake of the tragic incident in Tainan, which has since left 18 casualties as search and rescue efforts continue into the morning. According to the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), restoration of power in most parts of the town has been completed, but adds that areas seriously affected by the quake have been deemed unrecoverable.

The Taiwan Water Corporation disclosed that underground water pipes in the district of Yongkang have been severely ruptured due to the earthquake, however assuring to residents in Tainan that it could restore water to another 130,000 homes by noon.

Districts expected to see the return of water distribution later in the day include Danei, Rende, Longqi, Guanmiao, Xinhua, Anping, Yongkang, North, West, and Central, the water board pointed out in the morning.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/07
By: Tang Pei-chun, Yang ssu-jui and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) With search and rescue efforts continuing for more than

24 hours in Tainan after a strong earthquake hit southern Taiwan, the death toll had climbed to 18 as of 7:30 in Sunday morning, according to the Tainan City government’s Fire Bureau.

Tainan was hit the hardest by the deadly 6.4 magnitude tremor, which occurred at 3:57 a.m. Saturday, toppling more than 10 buildings, all in Tainan.

Rescue efforts from the government and charity groups, including the Red Cross Society of the ROC, have been intensified in a bid to save as many lives as possible. Donations from enterprises and charity groups have been pouring in to help with relief efforts.

At 8 a.m., at least 18 deaths and 505 injured were confirmed, while a total of 356 have been rescued, with 152 others remaining unaccounted for, the data showed. Meanwhile, 98 of the injured remained hospitalized and 424 have been evacuated.     [FULL  STORY]

Bustle.com
Date: February 6, 2016
By: LAUREN BARBATO

You can donate to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the organization’s website. You can also donate directly to the Taiwan Red Cross here.

The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation as also set up a way to donate through its website

A deadly 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck a Taiwan city

Saturday morning, killing at least 15 people, according to the Taipei Times. More than 100 people are reportedly missing in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan after several buildings, including a high-rise residential apartment building, crumbled from the powerful quake. According to The Washington Post, about 340 people were already rescued throughout Tainan, and search and rescue missions are continuing into the night.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported Saturday that nearly

500 people were injured in the earthquake, while roughly 150
people remained missing. CNA added that at least nine structures collapsed throughout Tainan, citing a report from
the Central Disaster Response Center.

The high-rise tower that collapsed following the earthquake was Tainan’s Weiguan Jinlong building, a 17-story structure located in the city’s Yongkang District. Government officials told the Taipei Times that there were 256 registered residents of the building. While it’s unclear how many of those residents were in the Jinlong building at the time of the earthquake, officials said first responders were able to rescue 167 people from the building, the Taipei Times reported. The news source added that 30 people were rescued from another building that also collapsed during the earthquake.     [FULL  STORY]