A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck in southern Taiwan early Saturday toppling several buildings and killing at least seven people including an infant.
The powerful earthquake struck about 30 miles east of Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan and home to more than 1.8 million, just before 4 a.m. (3 p.m. Friday E.T.) waking up residents because of the violent shaking that moved buildings. Some immediately ran out of their houses.
The tremor hurt at least 403. It also fell nine buildings and caused five more to tilt at dangerous angles.
One of the toppled structures was the 16-story Wei Guan residential building. The collapse set off a search effort involving firefighters and volunteers who managed to pull out 245 people from the rubble. Of those rescued, 68 were hospitalized.
Five Wei Guan building residents were killed and at least 11 remained missing, the National Fire Agency said. Included in the fatalities is a 10-day old baby. Two others died in Tainan's Gueiren District. One was a woman who was hit by a fallen water tower. The other fatality was in one of the titled buildings.
Residents extended help to rescue those who were trapped but many people remained stuck in the wreckage. A 71-year-old plumber who goes by the name Chang used a ladder and some tools to pry open window bars and rescue a woman.
"She asked me to go back and rescue her husband, child, but I was afraid of a gas explosion so I didn't go in," Chang said. "At the time there were more people calling for help, but my ladder wasn't long enough so there was no way to save them."
The powerful tremor occurred a day before Lunar New Year's eve, a period when many people go home to their hometowns. The earthquake shut down 69 power lines, affecting more than 121,000 households, and water service, affecting about 400,000 households preparing for the holiday.
Outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou pledged an all-out effort to rescue those who remained trapped and provide assistance to those affected by the disaster.
Ma said that 1,200 beds have been prepared in four shelters in the area to accommodate those who were displaced.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake occurred at a depth of around 14 miles with Tainan being the hardest hit. The earthquake was also felt in the capital of Taipei, which is located on the other side of the island, waking up many in the city.
"It was not a rolling gentle earthquake, but a violent jerking motion. The walls were shaking and you could hear the building and windows moving," related elementary school teacher Derek Hoerler. "It lasted at least a minute with swaying afterwards. I felt complete terror."
Taiwan lies on the seismically active "Ring of Fire," a region where large number of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean.
Although earthquakes often occur in the island, most are minor and do not cause much damage. The strongest tremor that hit Taiwan in recent years was the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck in 1999. The quake killed about 2,500.
