Before their apartment tower collapsed in a Taiwan earthquake over the weekend, a young couple living on the 14th floor had already been given a clue that the building was unsafe.

But it came too late.

Chen Yi-ting and her husband bought the apartment in the center of Tainan city five years ago, having relocated from an outlying district. They had a small hiccup with the mortgage — the first bank they approached had declined their loan application without stating why — but they found another lender and moved in with their infant daughter.