The nation was shaken by a temblor measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale yesterday afternoon. No immediate injuries or damage were reported.
The quake struck at 2:10pm. Statistics from the Central Weather Bureau showed that the epicenter was 165.7km off the southeast coast in Hualien and 15.5km deep.
The temblor, which was felt nationwide, was the first 6.0 magnitude earthquake this year, the bureau said.
The quake was most strongly felt at Changbin (長濱), Taitung County, and Nanao (南澳), Yilan County, where intensity measurements hit 3.0.
Hualien City and 18 other cities also registered an intensity of 2.0, while it registered in Taoyuan County, Taipei City and Penghu County.
Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the bureau’s seismology center, said the temblor may have been caused by the collision of the Euroasian plate and the Philippine sea plate.
The Taiwanese Seismology Centre did not issue a tsunami warning, but Kuo urged people near Taiwan’s shores “to heighten vigilance and keep an eye out for any changes in sea levels.”
The Japan Meteorological Agency calculated the quake’s magnitude at 6.6, exceeding the US Geological Survey’s estimate of 6.4 and the Taiwanese Seismology Centre’s estimate of 6.3. Japan’s weather agency said a tsunami with a height of 50cm was expected along the shores of some of the archipelago’s southernmost islands.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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