A BUILDING IS SEEN COLLAPSED IN TAIPEI, 1999-09-20 (photo)

A building lies collapsed, as rescue workers try to extract survivors, following an earthquake in Taipei early September 21. A powerful earthquake shook Taiwan early on Tuesday, toppling buildings as people slept inside, and first reports said several had been killed. "We have at least five people dead, a couple of people missing, 22 to 24 trapped. These are preliminary reports," a Taiwan government spokesman said. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was a "large and potentially damaging" quake. It struck at 1747 GMT and measured 7.6 on the open-ended Richter scale. The earthquake in Turkey last month which killed more than 15,000 people measured 7.4 on the scale. JDP