A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck 28 miles southeast of the city of Tainan earlier in the day, toppling multiple buildings, including a 17-story residential building that housed over 200 people, Sputnik reported.
"As of 20:00 local time (12:00 GMT), a total of 14 people were killed, 484 people were injured," Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) said.
At least 156 Taiwanese residents went missing in the incident, according to the CNA.
Two other buildings - one with 16 floors and one with 7 floors - also collapsed in Tainan and one more building tilted.
High-speed railway service and power supplies in the south of Taiwan were disrupted because of the quake.
Taiwan lies along the so-called Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped string of volcanoes around the Pacific Rim, where about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur.