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6.4-magnitude earthquake rocks southern Taiwan

Rescue workers search a toppled building after an earthquake in Tainan, Taiwan, February 6, 2016. (AP)

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake has rocked southern Taiwan, killing at least three people and injuring over 150 others in the Asian island nation.

The tremor, which struck the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan early Saturday, caused a number of buildings to collapse and left many people trapped under the rubble.

Officials in Tainan say emergency workers have pulled out more than 220 people from rubble.

Many more people are feared to be still trapped inside the collapsed buildings following the quake and its aftershocks.

Rescue personnel work at the site where a 17-story apartment building collapsed after an earthquake in Tainan, southern Taiwan, February 6, 2016. (Reuters)

The epicenter of the quake was 43 kilometers (27 miles) southeast of Tainan at a depth of 23 kilometers (14 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

Taiwan lies in a seismically active area and is therefore prone to earthquakes, which mostly cause little or no damage. But one of its worst-recorded quakes measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale occurred in September 1999. The tremor claimed 2,400 lives and ruined 50,000 buildings.


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