Accessibility links

Breaking News

Taiwan Earthquake Victim Search Ends

update

In the early morning, emergency rescuers continue to search for the missing in a collapsed building from an earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, Feb. 7, 2016.
In the early morning, emergency rescuers continue to search for the missing in a collapsed building from an earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, Feb. 7, 2016.

Rescue workers in Taiwan have recovered all the remains of the victims of the recent earthquake.

The final remains were pulled Saturday from a flattened a 17-story apartment building in Tainan, a city of 2 million residents.

Officials say 116 people died in the 6.4-magnitude quake. Most of the victims died in The Wei-guan, the collapsed apartment building. The developer of the building and two other men associated with the structure have been arrested.

Social-media posts and news reports said the February 6 earthquake recalled a disastrous earthquake that killed thousands of people in September 1999. That quake, one of the strongest to hit Taiwan during the 20th century, had a magnitude of 7.7.

Tainan is the base of operations for high-tech companies, including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

A spokeswoman at TSMC said the quake damaged the company's facilities in Tainan. The company is a major supplier to global smartphone makers, including Apple. The quake also caused widespread problems on Taiwan’s high-speed rail network, stranding many passengers.

Quake-prone Taiwan is in a highly active seismic zone known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," and more than 50 fault lines pass through the island.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG