T

he Foreign Ministry said that as of Saturday evening, no Indonesian citizen had been reported killed in a powerful of 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Taiwan before dawn on Saturday, the start of the Lunar New Year holidays.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (KDEI) in Taipei was coordinating with local authorities amid rescue efforts in the Tainan City districts of Yongkang, Xinhua and Guiren, which saw severe damage by the earthquake that hit at around 4 a.m. local time.

'€œEvacuations in Xinhua and Guiren have completed, and there is no Indonesian citizen killed there,'€ Retno said on Saturday evening.

Retno added that the KDEI team dispatched to Tainan was still gathering information as the evacuation in Yongkang district continued on Saturday evening.

The China Post reported that the extensive damage in Tainan included at least eight toppled high-rise apartment buildings.

In the district of Yongkang, a 17-story apartment complex lay horizontally on Yongda Road. According to local media, rescuers safely evacuated 220 people and sent 29 to hospitals for treatment. More than 250 people are registered residents in the building.

At the Daren Street and Xinyi North Road intersection in Guiren district, a seven-story crumbled into a four-story building. Rescue teams safely rescued all 34 people trapped in apartments on the third floor. Collapsed buildings were also reported in the districts of Zhongxi, Shanshang and Rende.

Associated Press reported at 9:51 p.m. that the death toll had increased to at least 14, including nine people whose bodies were found in the ruins of the fallen 17-floor building in Yongkang.

Taiwan'€™s emergency management information center said rescuers pulled 248 survivors from the collapsed building, according to AP. Meanwhile, according to the city government, a total of 337 people were rescued throughout Tainan.

The emergency management information center said 1,236 rescuers from outside Tainan were deployed, including 840 from the army, along with six helicopters and 23 rescue dogs, AP reported. Tainan'€™s municipal government said it had mobilized nearly 600 professional and volunteer firefighters.

'€œWe are still monitoring developments,'€ Retno added.

The Foreign Ministry referred to KDEI'€™s hotline in Taipei at +886979407214 for those seeking further information.

Reuters reported that President Ma Ying-jeou visited an emergency center and hospital in Tainan, while President-elect Tsai Ing-wen canceled other appointments to help coordinate rescue efforts.

China has offered Taiwan rescue assistance if needed, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

According to China Post, public transportation was stepped up to send travelers home for the holidays on Saturday in the wake of the earthquake.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan in 1999, killing more than 2,300 people.