108 dead, 9 missing a week after Taiwan quake

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Rescue personnel work on damaged buildings after an earthquake in Tainan, southern Taiwan, February 6, 2016. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

Rescue personnel work on damaged buildings after an earthquake in Tainan, southern Taiwan on Feb 6. Photo credit: Reuters

TAIPEI: The death toll from the earthquake that struck southern Taiwan’s Tainan city on Feb 6 had climbed to 108 by 7am Saturday, with nine still missing, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The 16-storey Weiguan Jinlong building fell down towards a road on its east side seconds after the earthquake, accounting for 106 of the deaths, according to an official update on the casualties.

Meanwhile, 281 people were rescued out of the building, but nine were still missing more than a week after the quake.

The quake, which the China Earthquake Administration said had a magnitude of 6.7, hit southern Taiwan at 3.57am on Feb 6, just two days before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

At that time, the Weiguan Jinlong building was crammed with about 380 people, including many relatives of residents.

Rescuers started searching efforts soon after the quake and are still search for the missing, but no survivor has been discovered since late Monday.

At present, all the nine missing stayed in Unit A and Unit G. When the building with units A to I toppled, Unit H fell upon Unit A on the southern side of the building, while Unit I fell upon Unit G on the north, making it hard for people in those two units to escape. – Bernama