Rescuers in Taiwan pulled a young man alive from a collapsed apartment tower on Sunday more than 24 hours after a strong earthquake shook the island, and kept searching for more than 130 people believed trapped in the ruins of the building. The 20-year-old was identified by Taiwan media as Huang Kuang-wei. He was taken to hospital. Firefighters, police, soldiers and volunteers combed through the ruins, some using their hands, watched anxiously by dozens of the victims' family members who wore thick jackets, woollen hats and scarves on a chilly morning. "Nothing matters but to get her out. The lady living across the hallway was rescued yesterday. I know they will find her, but I have also planned for the worst. It's been more than 20 hours now."

"She's not answering my phone calls ... I am trying to hold my emotions and stay strong. I'll do that until I find her," said a woman surnamed Chang, 42, waiting to hear from her 24-year-old daughter who lived on the fifth floor of the complex.

At least 18 people are known to have died in the quake, which struck at about 4 a.m. on Saturday, at the beginning of a Lunar New Year holiday, including 16 found in the collapsed Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in the southern city of Tainan.

A total of 132 people are still beneath the rubble of the commercial-residential block, said a city government official surnamed Chen, with all but about 30 of them trapped deep in the wreckage. The building's lower floors pancaked on top of each other in the 6.4 magnitude quake and then the whole structure toppled, raising immediate questions about the quality of materials and workmanship used in its construction in the 1990s.

Tainan Mayor William Lai told reporters that efforts were focusing on 29 people who are closest to the rescuers, with lighter equipment like drills being used. "The other 103 are believed to be at the lower floors of the building, and we can't find an accessible route to those areas at the moment."

The extent of damage to the Golden Dragon Building has raised questions. Liu Shih-chung, Tainan city government deputy secretary general, said television footage of its ruins suggested the possibility of structural problems related to poor-quality reinforced steel and cement.