A 28-year-old Vietnamese woman was pulled from debris Monday in Tainan, after three, including an 8-year-old girl, were rescued.

The woman surnamed Chen is aunt of the saved girl. Both were trapped on the fifth floor of the Wei Guan building toppled by the strong quake on Saturday.

Chen, with consciousness and stable emotions, was immediately sent to hospital. Doctors said surgeries were not urgently needed as she had only bruises on her body and necrosis in small parts of her pelvises.

Earlier in the day, a man named Li Tsung-tian was pulled out alive after being trapped for some 56 hours. He was sent to hospital for treatment but may have to undergo amputation for injuries on the left leg.

Before that, rescuers saved a woman who was partly shielded by her dead husband, on the seventh floor of the Wei Guan building.

So far, the 6.7-magnitude earthquake, which struck southern Taiwan two days ahead of the lunar new year, has killed at least 38 people, all but two in the collapse of the 16-storey residential complex.

Rescuers are still scrambling through the wreckage to search for survivors. They have been able to confirm signs of life on the top floor of the building, and would begin rescue work after the Vietnamese woman was saved.

More than 100 people are believed to be under the debris, and many are trapped at the bottom of the building.

"It was a day of vain attempts," said a rescuer, who had joined the work since Saturday morning. He said the previous search had been slow as big machines were limited in use for avoiding additional damage to possible survivors.

Sine Monday evening, heavy machines have been used for help.

Dozens of family members of the missing gathered in a temporary media center set up in a furniture store near the toppled building, staring at the rubble with anxiety.

Taiwan is frequently rattled by earthquakes. Most cause little or no damage, although a 7.3-magnitude quake in 1999, the strongest to hit Taiwan for about 100 years, left more than 2,000 people dead.