The number killed in Saturday's earthquake in southern Taiwan rose to 41 yesterday with more than 100 people still missing as the critical 72-hour window to find survivors passed.
A search-and-rescue team bagan the second phase of rescue efforts by using heavy machinery to locate survivors on Monday evening after no further signs of life could be detected.
Emergency response officials are racing against time to discover more survivors believed to be trapped in the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex,a block of nearly 300 units that collapsed on its side.
The magnitud 6.4 quake left more than 500 people injured and toppled more than 10 building in Tainan,a city of some 1.9 million people
Several other building were left tilting noticeably.
Close to noon yesterday,rescue pulled from the rubble of the complex the body of a 15-year-old boy,raising the number dead at the structure to 39.
Earlier in the day,rescuers recovered the bodies of a 27-year-old woman and her 3-year-old-son.
Tainan Mayor William Lai said more than 100 people may have been in the building,which had 16 floors above ground and one basement floor. Rescuee officials said more than 200 people were rescued from the complex,located in the city's Yongkang District.
While investigations are under way to find out why the complex collapsed,shoddy construction is likely to have played a role.
The Red Cross said it had deployed emergency teams with specialist rescue equipment,including electric drill,hammers and cutting equipment,to assist firefighters and emergency services crew leading the search-and-rescue efforts.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry expressed gratitude on Monday after the Japanese goverment announced earlier it will donate US$1 million (35 million baht) in aid for disaster relief and reconstruction to the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (Taiwan) , and that it is also ready to deploy firefighters and Self-Defence Forces personnel upon Taiwan's request.
Brian Heidel,regional advisor for East Asia and Pacific for the US Agency for intenational Development, and official from the American Institute in Taiwan,Washington's de facto embassy on the island,visited survivors in Tainan yesterday.
AIT annoucned on Saturday that the US government will present $500,000 to the Taiwan Res Cross. KYODO