Taiwan quake death toll at 116 as search ends

TAIPEI - The death toll from an earthquake that struck southern Taiwan a week ago stood at 116 by Saturday, and the searching has come to an end as the missing were all accounted for.

The 6.7-magnitude quake hit Kaohsiung city at a depth of 15 km at 3:57 am last Saturday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. Local monitoring authority put the scale at 6.4-magnitude.

The city of Tainan bore the brunt of the quake, especially a 16-storey apartment building built in 1992 in the Yongkang district.

The U-shaped Weiguan Jinlong building fell down toward a road on its east seconds after the quake, accounting for 114 deaths, among 289 taken out of the building by rescuers, according to an official update on the casualties.

At the time, the Weiguan Jinlong was crammed with more than 380 people, including many relatives of residents. Rescuers started searching efforts soon after the quake.

At around 3 pm Saturday, the last missing body was found in the ruins by rescuers. Later, the Tainan mayor said the search for the missing had come to an end.