Massive aftershocks hampered rescue efforts in Taiwan yesterday and hopes were fading for nearly 3,000 people trapped under rubble from the earthquake.
At least 2,008 people were killed and 5,276 injured, rescue officials said. A further 2,622 remained trapped in toppled buildings and 208 people are missing.
The magnitude of the quake was estimated at 7.6 on the Richter scale by the United States Geological Survey.
The first international rescue teams to arrive at the epicentre at Puli in central Taiwan moved swiftly from ruin to ruin, using heat-seeking equipment to establish if anyone buried was still alive. They passed over hundreds of bodies.
Aftershocks were a continual threat, shaking already weakened or destroyed buildings and causing further collapses across the town of Puli. Just a few miles from the quake epicentre, it took the full brunt of Tuesday's shockwave.
A handful of survivors were airlifted to a sports stadium at Nantou, the capital of the worst affected province, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the quake centre, where paramedics and doctors have set up makeshift surgeries in a sports stadium.
The country's seismology centre said a first tremor measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 8:14a.m. (0014 GMT). Shortly afterwards a second quake measuring 6.2 also struck, and further tremors were felt through the day.
Seismologists warned that powerful shocks might continue for two weeks.
Panicking survivors in Puli tried to leap into helicopters as they picked up the wounded or dropped off medical and food supplies.
Flights were suspended at nightfall as continuing power cuts made it too dark to navigate.
In Taipei, more bodies were pulled from a 12-storey building which had crumbled in the quake. One woman extracted alive died almost immediately afterwards in hospital.
Several towns near the epicentre were virtually annihilated. Puli sustained 98 per cent structural damage and one pilot said not one building was left standing in half the town. Landslides also buried hundreds of homes.