Rescuers searching for 100 missing after quake

Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage.

Rescuers are searching the rubble of a 17-storey apartment building that collapsed, with some people still known to be missing in the ruins of the complex as night fell, government officials said.

Rescuers were racing to locate the missing after nightfall Saturday, hours after the quake struck before dawn. The hospital treated and immediately discharged 52 people who had been lightly injured in the tremor, and it admitted just 13 people, Hung said in an interview.

Rescue workers guide a man from the rubble of a toppled building after an natural disaster in Tainan, Taiwan, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016. Media reported a third death. At least 26 are still unaccounted for.

Facebook has activated its Safety Check feature so people impacted by the quake can notify their friends and family about their condition.

The world’s biggest contract chipmaker has one of its largest and latest 12-inch wafer production facilities in the city of Tainan, where a 6.4-magnitude temblor led to the collapse of a 17-storey building and at least seven deaths. The agency said 256 people were believed to be living in 92 households.

In a supporting notion, President Ma Ying-jeou visited an emergency centre and hospital in Tainan while President-elect Tsai Ing-wen cancelled appointments to help bring together rescue efforts.

Tainan city houses almost two million people but many more had arrived in the urban center to celebrate the Chinese Lunar year two days ago. Office head Zhang Zhijun said so far no mainland tourists in Taiwan have been affected in the quake.

China has offered rescue assistance if needed, according to state news agency Xinhua. Beijing regards Taiwan as a wayward province.

More than 60 people in the city remain hospitalized, disaster officials said.

It said a mother and a daughter were among the 34 people pulled from one of the Wei Guan buildings and that the girl drank her urine while waiting for rescue, which came sooner than expected.

Residential buildings in Tainan sustained significant damage, and rescue efforts continue. More are still reported trapped in at least two collapsed residential high-rises.

Tainan’s municipal government said it mobilized almost 600 professional and volunteer firefighters.

“I saw buildings shake up and down and left and right”, said one resident.

The emergency response center told The Associated Press that three people were killed, including a 10-day-old infant, a 55-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man. By 1:20 p.m., 246 people had been evacuated or pulled out by rescuers.

An unknown number are still trapped. The collapsed building was described as an “accordion”.

Although Taiwan is used to earthquakes, lying in the seismically active area known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, this one was particularly shallow meaning its effects were felt more strongly.

Aerial images of at least two different buildings showed what appeared to be significant devastation.

A recent city law, spearheaded by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, ordered property owners to retrofit older concrete buildings as well as wood-frame apartment complexes with weak first floors.

Military personnel also are taking part in the rescue.