RT News
Date: 6 Feb, 2016

Multiple buildings, including a high-rise residential tower, have collapsed killing at least 14 and injuring hundreds after a 6.4 magnitude quake struck southern Taiwan. Over 220 have been saved as emergency teams continue to scour through the rubble.

The emergency response center has confirmed that at least 14 people were killed at the site of the collapsed 17-story building in Tainan, including a 10-day-old infant, a 55-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man. In total at least seven buildings have collapsed as a result of the earthquake.

“Four buildings have collapsed in Tainan City area. Search and rescue is underway and no casualties have been reported at this moment,” Lin Kuan-cheng, spokesman for the National Fire Agency, told AFP.

The 17-floor apartment building houses over 250 people and consists of at least 90 households, according to City Government Fire Bureau information officer Lee Po Min.

At least 247 people have been rescued from that high-rise residential tower, the local fire brigade told Reuters.

At least 477 people were injured in Tainan as a result of the earthquake, AP reports.

More than 2,000 people are involved in rescue operations and at least 840 soldiers have been mobilized to help the efforts, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/06
By: Frances Huang, Yuling Kao and Flor Wang

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) Search and rescue efforts continued into the night in Tainan City, the area in southern Taiwan hardest hit Saturday by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that killed at least 14 people.

Following four briefings by the Central Emergency Operation Center, Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) said the search for missing people will continue throughout the night.

As of 9 p.m., the death toll had risen to 14 after two bodies were recovered from the 16-story Weikuan Jinlong residential building that collapsed during the quake.

According to the Central Emergency Operation Center, 12 of the deaths occurred in that building and 436 people throughout southern were injured in the disaster.

The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, one of Taiwan’s leading charity groups, has sent more than 1,000 volunteers to Tainan with blankets, scarves, bedding and hot food for survivors of the deadly earthquake that struck at 3:58 a.m. Saturday.    [FULL  STORY]

Yahoo News
Associated Press
February 6, 2016
By: GLADYS TSAI

TAINAN, Taiwan (AP) — Rescuers were searching late

Saturday for more than 100 people still missing after a powerful, shallow earthquake struck southern Taiwan before dawn, causing a high-rise residential building to collapse and killing at least 14 people.

Local authorities said Saturday night that more than 100 people remained missing and that rescuers were racing to find them. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that 172 people were missing.

Rescuer Jian Zhengshun said the rescue work was difficult because part of the building was believed to be buried underground, with the quake loosening the earth. He said rescuers had to clear rubble for passages to reach people who were trapped.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-06
By: Sophia Yang
Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan early Saturday and knocked down a 17-story residential building in Yongkang District, Tainan City. Rescue crews responded to the scene, freeing more than a hundred people from the building. At least 2 young children and four adults were, however, found dead at the scene.

According to the media report, 256 people from 96 families are registered residents in the collapsed building, but the exact number of people living there remain unclear.

The rescue images showed that the destroyed residential building, known as Weiguan Jinlong, was poorly designed and constructed, which were preliminary blamed for the collapse after a powerful quake.     [FULL  STORY]

RT News
Date: 5 Feb, 2016

Southern Taiwan was hit was hit by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake early Saturday, with heavy damage reported. Rescue crews are trying to save people feared to be trapped inside a collapsed building in the city of Tainan.
06 February 2016

04:49 GMT
Local media said the collapsed building complex included a care center for newborns and mothers

04:45 GMT
At least 481 people have been injured in Tainan as a result of the earthquake, AP reports.

04:06 GMT
The death toll in Tainan city has risen to five, the emergency response center said.

04:06 GMT
Mainland China has offered Taiwan help in dealing with the consequences of the aftermath of the earthquake, which considers the island nation to be part of its territory, despite Taipei’s proclamation of independence.

The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) made contact with Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) shortly after the quake, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said. Beijing has offered its condolences and said it will offer any assistance needed.

03:33 GMT
More than 1,500 people are involved in rescue efforts, Tainan disaster center said.     [FULL  STORY]

EuroNews
Date: 05/02/2016

A powerful earthquake has toppled a 17-storey apartment block in southern Taiwan, killing at least two people – including a 10-day old girl.

It has triggered frantic efforts to rescue dozens of people feared trapped inside in the structure, in the city of Tainan.

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 each other when the 6.4 magnitude tremor struck before dawn, at the start of a Lunar New Year holiday.

Rescuers mounted hydraulic ladders and a crane to scour the wreckage, plucking more than 120 survivors to safety, according to a fire brigade official.

Elsewhere in the city of two-million people, several buildings titled at alarming angles.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/06
By: Yang Su-rui and Jay Chen

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) Emergency workers were fighting to save lives after several buildings in Tainan collapsed or were partially damaged when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southern Taiwan in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A total of 127 were rescued from a toppled 17-story residential building in the southern municipality’s Yongkang District, with 29 of those needing medical treatment, according to the city’s emergency response center. Two were pulled from the building with no signs of life.

Many people were feared trapped inside and in other buildings which sustained serious damage in three other districts in Tainan, where an intensity reading of five was felt during the earthquake.      [SOURCE  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/06
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) At least two people, including an infant, died after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern Taiwan at 03:57 a.m. Saturday.

According to the Tainan City Fire Bureau, as of 8:06 a.m., 221 people have been rescued from the damaged buildings, with 115 of them sent to the hospital for treatment. Two of those were discovered with no signs of life.

Local media reported that the two victims were a 10-day old female infant and a 40-year-old man. Having been pulled from a 17-story building that collapsed in Yongkang District in Tainan City, they reportedly died before arriving at a hospital.      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/06
By: Yang Su-rui and Jay Chen

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) More than 120 people were rescued from a building that was toppled during a strong earthquake in southern Taiwan early Saturday while an unknown number of residents remained trapped, emergency workers said.

Twenty-six of those 123 survivors were injured, they said.

The bulk of the 16-story Wei Guan (維冠) residential building was left lying on its side on Yongda Road in Tainan City’s Yongkang District after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern Taiwan at 03:57 a.m.

The building was said to be home to some 200 people in 60 households.     [FULL  STORY]