At least five people
were killed Saturday morning when a magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan, the
Taiwanese Disaster Response Center said. More than 200 people were rescued from
damaged structures, many from a 17-story residential building that collapsed in
Tainan, officials told CNN. Two bodies were also recovered from the building,
officials said. Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported earlier that a
10-day-old girl and a 40-year-old man had been killed in Tainan. More than 150
people in Tainan were hospitalized, disaster officials said. 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.
The man said the
45-degree tilt resulted in items inside his room spilling all over the floor.
Unable to use the stairs, he managed to escape from the window of the second
floor. Video shot by CNN affiliate SETTV showed rescuers helping several people
from the rubble, including one man who had blood on his face. In another shot,
rescuers carefully lower an elderly woman strapped to a backboard. SETTV's
aerial footage showed the collapsed 17-story building, with white smoke or dust
still billowing from the destruction. More than 1,500 people are involved in
rescue efforts, the disaster center said. Seven other buildings were damaged.
Taiwan's outgoing President, Ma Ying-jeou, is on his way to the city, CNN
affiliate EBC and other Taiwanese media reported. About 1.9 million people live
in Tainan,Taiwan's oldest city. As of 5:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. ET Friday), 121,672
homes and businesses were without power in Tainan The tremor was centered about
48 kilometers (30 miles) east-southeast of Tainan, the U.S. Geological Survey
said.
