Five quakes rock Taiwan

Five earthquakes, all of which measured more than four on the open-ended Richter scale, jolted Hualien early yesterday, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The earthquakes occurred between 5:25am and 8:27am, with their epicenters all located at sea,at an average depth of 13.7km, some 21km northeast of the CWB's Hsincheng seismology station in Hualien. There were no reports of damage or human casualties.

Four noticeable earthquakes were also recorded last Friday afternoon in the same area.

"The high frequency of quakes in the area is a rare phenomenon, but the accumulated energy released from all of these earthquakes still fell within the normal range [roughly equivalent to that released by a magnitude 5.1 quake]," said Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧文), director of the CBW's Seismology Center.

As to whether the nine recent earthquakes might signal a major temblor, Kuo said such a forecast goes beyond the current scientific and technological capabilities.

Seismological records show that in some cases, a major temblor has been preceded by a series of smaller quakes, such as the 1974 Haicheng earthquake in China's northeastern Liaoning Province.

On the other hand, there were few earthquakes prior to the magnitude 7.3 921 earthquake that devastated parts of central Taiwan.

Kuo said that the Hualien area has never been struck by a deadly earthquake and has so far only recorded four earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.2 or greater.

"The epicenters of Monday's quakes were all located at the connecting area of two tectonic plates, whose movements caused the temblors," he explained.

Since Taiwan lies in a region, prone to quakes, Kuo said, the CWB seismology center will remain on alert in the wake of the recent quakes, which were also felt in Ilan County and in mountainous parts of Taipei and Taoyuan counties.