MONUMENTAL DISASTER IMPACT: Update On The Powerful Taiwan Quake - At Least 23 Killed As Death Toll Rises; Over 130 Others Still Trapped Under Collapsed Building Rubble! [VIDEO]

Rescuers search for dozens missing in the collapsed apartment building in Tainan on Sunday.© Wally Santana/AP

February 7, 2016 - TAIWAN - Rescuers in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan were fighting against the clock on Sunday to save more than 100 people still trapped beneath rubble of an apartment block 24 hours after a strong earthquake shook the island.

A 20-year-old man was pulled alive from of the wreckage on Sunday but the city's mayor admitted that emergency teams face a "very difficult" challenge to rescue dozens of other people who remain trapped.

At least 23 people were killed when the 6.4-magnitude quake struck early on Saturday morning, many of them in a collapsed 16-storey apartment complex which contained almost 100 homes packed with families gathering for the Chinese new year.

"Of the 132 people desperately waiting for rescue, 103 people are buried very deep, there's no way to get to them direct, it's very difficult," said Tainan mayor William Lai on SundayFirefighters, police, soldiers and volunteers were combing through the ruins, some using their hands, and being watched anxiously by dozens of the victims' family members wearing thick jackets, woollen hats and scarves on a cold morning.

"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.

Rescuers in the collapsed building in Tainan.
© Wally Santana/AP

"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."

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 lower floors of the Wei-guan Golden Dragon building pancaked on top of each other in the quake and then the whole structure toppled, raising immediate questions about the quality of materials and workmanship used in its construction in the 1990s. 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.

However, city officials have said it is too early to say for certain if poor construction was a factor in the collapse.


WATCH: Several killed, hundreds rescued from collapsed buildings.

The dead taken from the collapsed apartment block on Saturday included a 10-day-old girl who was found in her dead father's arms, media reported.

Authorities said the building had 96 apartments and 256 registered residents, though more people were inside when it collapsed.

Rescuers wearing red and yellow overalls pulled more than 240 survivors from the ruins and inserted huge supports under slabs of leaning concrete as they searched for additional survivors.

Buildings in nine other locations in the city of 2 million people had collapsed and five were left tilting at alarming angles, a government emergency centre said.

Many residents of the city were without water on Sunday and had to queue to receive supplies. - The Guardian.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Meteorite Lands In Tamil Nadu, India - Killing One And Injuring Three Others!

The crater formed after the object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on the campus of Bharathidasan Engineering College, near Natrampalli, in Vellore on Saturday. © The Hindu

February 7, 2016 - INDIA - One person was killed and three others were injured when an object believed to a meteorite fell on the campus of a private engineering college near Natrampalli in Vellore district in northern Tamil Nadu early on Saturday.

According to police sources, a loud blast was heard near a water tank shortly after midnight on the Bharathidasan Engineering College premises in K.Bandarappalli village. Kamaraj, a college employee, who had gone to drink water suffered serious injuries and was declared dead when taken to the Vaniyambadi Government Hospital.

Three others suffered minor injuries. Window panes and wind screens of buses parked nearby and the water tank were broken in the impact of the blast. A crater was formed at the site of blast.

Though there was suspicion that it was a bomb blast, preliminary investigation by forensic and bomb experts showed no sign of any explosive substance at the scene. Pieces of a rare kind of stone were found and samples taken for analysis by scientists.

"We can rule out the possibility of any terror angle or sabotage. Not a single ingredient pertaining to any kind of explosive was found at the site. We suspect it to be a meteorite fall," a top police official told The Hindu on Saturday. After a similar blast was reported in a paddy field at Alangayam in the same district on January 26, a senior Astrophysicist of the National Physical Laboratory, Ahmedabad, came to the district for a study.

"The scientist was camping nearby and rushed to the college soon after hearing the news of the blast. We are convinced that it is a meteorite that fell with high velocity. In the earlier incident, local people remember having seen an object falling from the sky in the field," the official said.

A special team of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Asir Vijay Kumar, inspected the scene and ruled out the use of grenades. Vellore Superintendent of Police Senthilkumari also visited the spot. Investigators were trying to check if the college had any CCTV camera covering the disturbed area. - The Hindu.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVALS: Massive Avalanche Hits Austria - 5 People Killed, 17 Buried!

Mountain rescue service personnel search for Czech skiers who were trapped in an avalanche in a valley of the Tyrolian municipality of
Wattenberg, Austria, on Saturday. Five people were killed. © ZOOM.TIROL/Associated Press

February 7, 2016 - AUSTRIA - Five Czech skiers were killed in a huge avalanche that swept away their group of 17 in the Austrian skiing region of Tyrol on Saturday, police said.

The avalanche, which the regional TV station ORF Tirol said was 2 km (1.25 miles) wide and 5 m (16 feet) deep, came down shortly after noon at the Wattener Lizum region, about 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Innsbruck.

Two people were injured but out of acute danger, while 10 others survived unharmed, police said.

An avalanche warning sign is pictured in Wattental valley in Austria's skiing region of Tyrol February 6, 2016.

© Reuters/Dominic Ebenbichler

The experienced Czech skiers were taking part in a so-called "freeride camp" and had been repeatedly warned about the danger by locals, according to ORF.

The entire skiing region had been on a 'level three' avalanche alert, out of a maximum five, and several avalanches were also reported elsewhere. - Reuters.

DAWN OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS: "Historic,... Unprecedented,..." - Pope Francis And Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill To Have Groundbreaking Meeting In Cuba; The First Time Since The 11th CENTURY That The Heads Of Each Church Will Meet; To Heal The Great Schism Rift Of 1054 As Christendom Enters It's Twilight Time And The End Of The Piscean Age!

Pope Francis (L), Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. © Reuters / Sputnik

February 7, 2016 - RELIGION - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is to meet his Roman Catholic counterpart, Pope Francis, during a historic visit to Latin America. The groundbreaking meeting is to happen in mid-February in Cuba.

The meeting between heads the two major Christian churches would be an unprecedented move to mend a millennium-long rift between the Western and Eastern branches of the religion, which started with the Great Schism of 1054.

The upcoming meeting confirms Russia’s status in the Christian world, according to Alexandr Avdeev Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See. “In light of the Western sanctions, the meeting between the two celebrants is a confirmation of Russia’s role in Christian civilization,” he told TASS.

Persecution of Christians in the modern world is the main issue for the two leaders to discuss, the Russian Orthodox Church said. Christians are among the minorities suffering at the hands of groups adhering to radical Islamist ideology in places like Iraq, Syria and Somalia.

In addition to Cuba, Patriarch Kirill’s Latin American tour from February 11-22 includes Paraguay, Chile and Brazil. The meeting with Pope Francis will happen on February 12.

Pope Francis. © Tony Gentile / Reuters

“The intersection of the routes allowed this meeting to be organized,” commented Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Foreign Relations Department.

“The situation in the Middle East, in northern and central Africa and in some other regions where extremists are perpetrating genocide of Christians, requires immediate action and even closer cooperation between Christian churches.


“In the current tragic situation, we need to put aside internal disagreements and join efforts to save Christianity in the regions where it is subjected to most severe persecution,” he said.

Sergey Brun from the Museum of Russian Icons told RT that the meeting could signal a possible warming of relations between Russia and the West.


WATCH: First time since 11th century - Pope Francis to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch .

“It is a sign that the relations are going to get warmer at least between one of the parts of the Orthodox church, namely the Russian Orthodox church, and the church of Rome…I hope it will positively influence the dialogue between Russia and the West.”

The pontiff will make a stop in Cuba on his way to Mexico.

The meeting has been in preparation for two decades and both Moscow and the Vatican agreed that some neutral country would be most suited for it. Austria and Hungary were among those considered, but Cuba was eventually chosen. The Patriarch and the Pope are expected to sign a joint declaration after the talks.

The Holy See called the upcoming meeting a “sign of good faith” and called on all Christians “to pray to God to bless the meeting,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. © Sergey Pyatakov / Sputnik

For the Russian Orthodox Church the meeting will be the biggest foreign affairs event since reuniting in 2007 with the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia after a 90-year split.

The Great Schism formalized the break of communion between the Latin and Greek parts of Christianity after years of accumulating differences over theology, jurisdiction and ritual. The division endured over centuries, with mutual anathemas declared by the Pope and the Patriarch of what was then Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1054 nullified only in 1965. - RT.