Dozens still trapped beneath the hotel rubble

He said that the first four floors were squeezed into the first level of the basement.

The city government set up a disaster command center at the city's fire department, with a crisis management center established at the nearby Sungshan District Police Station.

City officials also arranged for residents of the collapsed building to set up lodgings at the Sungshan Elementary School, the Tzuai Temple and the Sungshan District Office. The Hyatt Hotel has also offered 30 rooms for residents of the building on a temporary basis. The Li-chien Hotel also offered 14 rooms for residents to use.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- who arrived at the crisis management center less than 30 minutes after the quake struck -- said the city team would do its best to try to rescue people still trapped in the wreckage.

"We will not give up any opportunity to save anyone who might have survived," Ma said.

Meanwhile, the most serious building collapse in the Taipei County area -- a 12-story residential building, located on Mingan Road in Hsinchuang -- killed 13, including a pregnant woman, and injured around 160, police said. Police said that about 30 people remained trapped in the wreckage, as of 10pm yesterday.