TAIPEI (Reuters) - More than 1,450 people were killed and nearly 3,750 injured when a massive earthquake pounded Taiwan Tuesday, toppling tall buildings, cutting road and electricity supplies and setting fires around the island.

Officials said the toll could rise in Taiwan's worst recorded earthquake, with more than 1,000 people trapped in the rubble of stricken buildings.

Rescuers were working desperately to dig out about 50 people still buried in a 12-storey hotel and apartment in the downtown district of Taipei.

Only the top four floors were visible, tilted at 45 degrees, with eight floors below crushed and smoke billowing out. Rescuers said there was a fire inside, and firemen were scrambling around the building trying to put it out.

Sniffer dogs were scouring the debris looking for survivors.

Power was out in large areas of the capital. Many buildings, including some of the luxury tourist hotels, had cracks in the walls and piles of fallen tiles. Transport was badly disrupted.

Fires were reported in a number of parts of the city as well as in the countryside.

CENTRAL REGION OF TAIWAN HARDEST HIT

Most of the dead, injured and trapped were in the counties of Nantou and Taichung in central Taiwan about 90 miles south of Taipei. The epicenter of the earthquake, registering 7.6 on the open-ended Richter scale, was in the central region.

Only three people were confirmed dead in the island's capital in Taipei.

Reporters in the central region said roads and bridges were badly damaged, making access and transporting the injured difficult. Power and water supplies were out in many parts of the region.

Reuters reporter Angus Chuang said a 12-storey residential block had collapsed in Fungyuan in central Taiwan. Cranes and digging machines were trying to get to an unknown number of people trapped inside.

Landslides were triggered around the region by the earthquake and cars were buried under debris. Roads throughout the central region had wide cracks.

Chuang said another tall building nearby had large cracks in the walls and piles of fallen tiles around it.

Rescue officials appealed for help from doctors, nurses and medical technicians, saying hospitals were being overwhelmed by the number of injured.

Television footage showed dozens of fallen houses in Nantou. A wine factory in central Taiwan exploded.

Power lines were cut and main roads were severely damaged by the earthquake and more than 1,000 aftershocks, which terrified local residents throughout the day and drove them into the streets.

Officials said the latest figures showed 1,455 dead, 3,732 injured, 1,072 trapped and 234 missing.

PRESIDENT APPEALS FOR CALM, BUT PUBLIC SPOOKED

President Lee Teng-hui urged people to stay calm and reassured the public the government had mobilized all its resources to handle the disaster.

``I was in the middle of sleep and the ceiling suddenly fell from the sky,'' said 27-year-old Lin Hung-yi, who lived in a collapsed apartment complex.

People cried for help from the wreckage of fallen buildings in Taipei. Television showed other victims, semi-naked or wearing pajamas, were guided down ladders to safety by rescuers.

Rescuers carried an injured child and old women to safety through mangled wreckage of concrete and metal, with water streaming from pipes.

The tremors hurled computers from desks and books from shelves but most of the capital's buildings appeared mostly unscathed.

CHINA OFFERS ASSISTANCE

China's President Jiang Zemin expressed concern for victims of the earthquake and offered assistance to the island, which is viewed by Beijing as a wayward province.

``Compatriots of the two sides are as closely linked as flesh and blood,'' the official Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang as saying. ``The catastrophe and agony of our Taiwan compatriots influences the hearts of all Chinese.''

President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi also offered their sympathy and help.

The United States said it was dispatching two military aircraft with about 70 rescue staff and sniffer dogs. Singapore was sending about 40 rescue workers as well as sniffer dogs.

The earthquake measured 7.6 on the open-ended Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Taiwan's weather bureau recorded the intensity at 7.3 and said it was the strongest ever recorded in Taiwan.

The devastating earthquake in Turkey last month, which killed 15,000 people, measured 7.3. The damage from Taiwan's earthquake appeared to be less severe than in Turkey as most buildings on quake-prone Taiwan were solidly built with concrete.

``Fortunately they do have a good building code...,'' said a spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey.

``The island has seen very rapid development in recent times so they have the advantage of occupying mainly newer buildings that have taken advantage of advances in earthquake engineering.

TAIWAN MARKETS CLOSED

Taiwan's stock and currency markets were closed Tuesday, and production in some industries was halted by blackouts.

But the country's main airports and ports were not affected.

Most of Taiwan was asleep when the earthquake struck at 1.47 a.m. (1747 GMT Monday), with its epicenter 12.5 km (7.8 miles) west of the central county of Nantou near the famous scenic spot of Sun Moon Lake, a seismically active area.

When more than 1,000 aftershocks rattled the island after the earthquake, Premier Vincent Siew warned more were likely.

``Don't panic, but be careful,'' Siew said on state television. ``More aftershocks are coming and should last not just one or two days, but likely one to two weeks. We must help each other.''