Taiwan quake kills six as buildings cave in

HUALIEN, Taiwan, Feb 7 (AFP): Rescue workers pulled survivors and bodies from buildings tilting precariously in the Taiwanese city of Hualien Wednesday after an overnight earthquake killed at least six people, injured more than 200 and left dozens missing.

Emergency responders were focusing on a 12-storey apartment block and a nearby hotel, both of which were leaning dangerously with their lower floors pancaked after the 6.4-magnitude quake hit the popular tourist city late Tuesday.

The national fire agency said six people had been killed across the city, revising down an earlier toll of seven dead after a woman was revived.

Some 88 people remain unaccounted for and it was not immediately clear how many of those were trapped inside buildings.

There were grave concerns for the badly leaning Yun Tsui residential building, which also housed a restaurant, shops and a hostel.

Dozens of residents-and a string of pets-were rescued with ropes, ladders and cranes. But fire department staff at the site told AFP at least four bodies had been pulled out of the building in the day.

Officials temporarily suspended rescue efforts over fears the building might slip further as engineers raced to push large concrete blocks and steel bars to support the leaning side.

Rescue efforts began again as night fell, with emergency responders wielding crowbars and torches to search the lower floors for survivors.

One resident who lives nearby told AFP how he watched the tower block partially collapse.

"I saw the first floor sink into the ground. Then it sank and tilted further and the fourth floor became the first floor," said Lu Chih-son, 35, who saw 20 people rescued from the building.

"My family were unhurt but a neighbour was injured in their head and is bleeding. We dare not go back home now. There are many aftershocks and we are worried the house is damaged," he told AFP.

Chen Chih-wei, 80, said he was sleeping in his apartment on the top floor of the building when the quake struck.

"My bed turned completely vertical. I was sleeping and suddenly I was standing," he told AFP.

Chen said he managed to crawl to a balcony to wait for rescue, adding that the quake was the strongest he had felt in more than five decades of living in Hualien.