http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35511884
Taiwan earthquake: Rescuers in frantic search for missing
Rescuers are searching the rubble of a high-rise residential building in southern Taiwan after an earthquake that killed at least 14 people.
Some 30 people are still missing from the 17-storey block, one of several buildings that collapsed in Tainan city when the magnitude 6.4 quake struck.
Among the dead was a newborn baby. Nearly 500 people were injured, at least 92 of whom remain in hospital.
President Ma Ying-jeou has promised an "all-out effort" to rescue people.
More than 800 soldiers have joined in the rescue effort, with the help of hi-tech equipment and rescue dogs.
Shelters would be set up for those who have lost their homes in the city of two million people, the president said when he arrived in Tainan.
Leaning ruins
The 17 storeys of the Weiguan Jinlong (Golden Dragon) apartment complex, home to at least 256 people, crumpled down on each other as the quake took hold just before 04:00 (20:00 GMT on Friday).
Television pictures showed rescuers frantically trying to reach people trapped in the rubble, using ladders to climb over piles of debris.
More than 200 people were rescued, but a baby, young girl and two adult men were among 12 in the complex who did not survive, officials said. Elsewhere in the city, at least two other victims were killed by falling debris.
At least 30 people are still believed to be trapped inside the collapsed high-rise, although officials warn that more people than usual could have been in the building as families gathered to celebrate Chinese New Year.
At the scene: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News
The 17-storey building is lying on its back like a giant uprooted tree. A tangle of steel bars stick out of its base, like snapped off roots.
Part of the building has been completely crushed, but other bits survived the collapse relatively intact.
It is now dark again but rescuers have not given up. There is relief that so far the death toll is low, but there are also questions.
This building was not old; Taiwan lies in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. Buildings like this are supposed to be strong enough to withstand much larger tremors than the 6.4 quake that hit.
Residents told how they were able to escape from their homes in the block.
"I used a hammer to break the door of my home which was twisted and locked, and managed to climb out," one woman told local TV.
Another man tied clothes together to make a rope and lowered himself from the ninth floor to the sixth floor below, Apple Daily reports.
One Tainan resident said his bed had turned over as the wall collapsed. "My home completely turned into debris. I was really frightened as I have never seen such an earthquake," he said.
A 35-year-old woman described how she and her two children were pulled from the rubble.
"Rescue workers broke through (the building) layer by layer. And they asked us to climb out but I said my children are too small to climb. So they dug a bigger hole. Then one rescue worker tried his best to climb in and take the children out. Then I slowly climbed out myself," she said.
There have also been at least five aftershocks. The quake was felt in the capital Taipei, 300km away.
Although the damage does not appear to be widespread, a number of tall buildings have been left leaning precariously.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and often sees tremors.
China has offered assistance although at the moment at least, given the relatively limited scale of the disaster, it does not look as if much outside help is needed, the BBC's John Sudworth reports from Beijing.
Back in 1999, when a 7.6 magnitude quake killed more than 2,300 people in central Taiwan, a similar offer of help from the mainland became embroiled in political wrangling, with Taiwan accusing China of exploiting the situation for its own political ends, our correspondent adds.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/06/asia/taiwan-earthquake/index.html
11 dead after magnitude-6.4 earthquake shocks Taiwan
By Steve Almasy, Kevin Wang and Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Updated 1453 GMT (2253 HKT) February 6, 2016
(CNN)At least 11 people were killed and 475 were injured Saturday morning when a magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan, Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported.
More than 200 people were rescued from damaged structures, many from a 17-story residential building that collapsed in Tainan, officials told CNN. At least five of the dead were from the Weiguan Jinlong building, CNA said.
Rescuers are still trying to reach at least eight more people they've discovered trapped in the rubble.
CNA reported earlier that a 10-day-old girl and a 40-year-old man had been killed in Tainan.
More than 60 people in the city remain hospitalized, disaster officials said.
"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. "Taiwan is very used to earthquakes and tremors, but this is far more significant than the island has seen in quite a while."
More than 1,500 people are involved in rescue efforts, the disaster center said. Seven other buildings were damaged.
A man who was staying in a three-story apartment building in Tainan told Chinese state media CCTV the building was shaking violently when the quake hit before sunrise. His room tilted 45 degrees, and items inside his room spilled all over the floor.
Unable to use the stairs, he managed to escape from the window of the second floor.
The building
The Weiguan Jinlong building now looks like an accordion from above.
SETTV's aerial footage showed the collapsed 17-story building, with white smoke or dust still billowing from the destruction.
"The building essentially collapsed onto itself," Hu said. "When you see the aerial images around Tainan, the rest of the buildings are standing. But this particular apartment complex is as damaged as it is."
One woman told CNN affiliate EBC that rescuers had to cut a hole in order to help her family get out.
"Fortunately we were stuck under a space created by a baby crib and a closet door, so that things won't fall on us and air was able to get in," she said from the hospital, where she was receiving treatment for a leg injury. "I was so afraid."
Video shot by CNN affiliate SETTV showed rescuers helping several people from the rubble, including one man with blood on his face. In another shot, rescuers carefully lower an elderly woman strapped to a backboard.
Officials, including the country's interior minister, say they will conduct an investigation into the building's collapse, according to CNA.
After residents raised concerns about the safety of the building, Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te said he will order a probe as well.
Taiwan's outgoing President, Ma Ying-jeou, is on his way to the city, EBC reported.
'Imagine something like this happening during Thanksgiving'
The quake struck as many in Taiwan prepare to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
It's one of the country's biggest holidays, and some people have as many as nine days off, Hu said.
"If you can imagine something like this happening during Thanksgiving holiday weekend or Christmas travel, that's the equivalent of what's happening here in Taiwan right now," she said.
As of Saturday morning (Friday evening ET), about 900,000 homes were experiencing power outages across the country and some 400,000 were dealing with water outages, according to the National Fire Agency.
About 1.9 million people live in Tainan, Taiwan's oldest city.
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