Taiwan earthquake: ‘the lucky one’ survives second deadly tremor and recalls terror of 1999 disaster that killed 2,400 people

A middle-aged housewife who survived Taiwan’s devastating 1999 earthquake that killed about 2,400 people has spoken of her horror after living through her second deadly earthquake on Saturday.

The woman, who identified herself only by her surname of Chien, was asleep with her husband and daughter in their sixth floor flat in the 16-storey Wei Guan residential complex when it collapsed after a magnitude-6.4 quake struck the southern city of Tainan just before dawn.

“I was trapped in badly damaged bedroom, along with my husband and daughter,” Chien told the Central News Agency.

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She said she thought they were all going to die as the result of a gas explosion because the smell of gas escaping from broken pipes was thick in the air. “Although my home was once again destroyed, I still feel lucky as all three of us were saved,” she said.

The family of three were finally rescued from the rubble after being trapped for three hours.

Chien added: “I lived in Wufeng when the biggest earthquake in 100 years rocked central Taiwan on September 21, 1999.

“I couldn’t believe that I had to encounter another serious quake after getting married and then moving to Tainan.”

The Wei Guan building toppled over on its side, with the upper floors collapsing on one another like a folding accordion.