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Two dead after magnitude-6.4 earthquake shocks Taiwan

Posted at 5:35 PM, Feb 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-05 19:35:37-05
By Steve Almasy and Kevin Wang

CNN

(CNN) — [Breaking news update, posted at 5:22 p.m. MT]

At least two people were killed Saturday morning when a magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan, the country’s Disaster Response Center said. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported a 10-day-old girl and a 40-year-old man were killed in Tainan. The tremor was centered about 48 kilometers (30 miles) east-southeast of Tainan, the U.S. Geological Survey says.

[Previous story, posted at 4:26 p.m. MT]

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook southern Taiwan early Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said.

At least 126 people were rescued from a 17-story residential building that collapsed in Tainan, the media office of the Tainan municipal disaster response center told CNN.

A total of 26 people were hospitalized. Seven people at a market were also transported to hospitals.

The building has 60 apartments and it was unclear how many people were trapped inside, Li Bomin, an official from Tainan City Fire Department, told CNN earlier.

More than 100 rescuers were at the scene, he said.

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, the nation’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 quake’s epicenter was 28 kilometers (17.4 miles) northeast of Pingtung.

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