After several big earthquakes, the mainland cracked down on building codes. China may now be safer than Taiwan in an earthquake.
In Taiwan, they often use plastic bottles and filler in the concrete which leaves air pockets in the walls and weakens them.
One female resident watching rescue operations, who declined to give her name, wondered out loud whether recent construction work might have weakened the building.
Some residents, she said, had bought neighbouring flats inside the building and knocked down walls to create bigger dwellings. A restaurant on the first floor had recently been turned into an open plan eatery, she added.