According to the US Geological Survey, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck off the coast of Taiwan early on Wednesday.
Reports of deaths, injuries, or major damage were not immediately available.
USGS said the magnitude 6.9 quake had a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), struck 70 kilometers south of Hualien City, and had a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles).
A reporter for AFP felt her building shake a few minutes after 1:40 am (1740 GMT) in Taipei’s Zhongshan district. People’s cell phones rang with government-issued alerts.
Earlier today, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau reported a 5.4-magnitude earthquake.
A magnitude 6.6 aftershock followed at 1:41 a.m., and two minutes later a magnitude 6.1 aftershock followed.
Due to its location at the meeting point of two tectonic plates, Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes.
If a quake is more powerful than magnitude 7.0, Taiwan does not issue tsunami warnings.
A 6.0 or higher earthquake can be deadly, though much depends on where it strikes and at what depth.
Yet the USGS assigned a “green” rating to the threat posed by the latest quake, predicting a low probability of either casualties or damage.
A 6.2 quake hit Taiwan’s east coast in January, the last time it experienced an earthquake of a similar magnitude. There were no reports of widespread damage or injuries.
The quake, which measured 6.5 magnitude, occurred in October 2021 in northeastern Yilan with minimal damage.
In 2018, 17 people died, and 300 were injured, in a 6.4-magnitude earthquake that hit Hualien, a scenic tourist spot.
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