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Large quake hits Taitung area

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck early yesterday morning in Taitung County, waking people up as far away as central and southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reported.

According to the Seismology Center, the earthquake rattled eastern Taiwan for about 30 seconds at 6:40am.

The epicenter of the jolt was said to have been located 19.9km northeast of Taitung.

The quake occurred at a depth of 11.7km beneath the surface of the sea, seismologists said.

Because the quake occurred in a relatively shallow area, it was felt in almost every area in eastern, central and southern parts of the island.

The shock waves penetrated beneath the Central Mountain Range to reach as far as Penghu Island.

As of 9am yesterday, no damage or injuries had been reported, although officials were still checking to see if the tremor caused any landslides or falling rocks.

The quake is the second with a magnitude greater than 6 to rattle the nation in the last two weeks.

According to Kuo Kai-wen (郭鎧紋), director of the Seismology Center, as the geological structure underneath and offshore of the eastern coast is uniquely complex, earthquakes in those areas could be the results of both squeezing and rupturing actions when the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate collide, and when another deep-sea fault is broken.

The earthquake had an intensity of 5 in Taitung and Hualien counties, 4 in Taitung City, 3 in Taichung, Nantou and Yunlin counties as well as in Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, 2 in Yilan County, Miaoli County and Tainan City, and 1 on Penghu Island.

Earlier the US Geological Survey had put the quake's magnitude at 5.8, with its epicenter 260km south of Taipei.

At least 51 people were injured by falling objects when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted Taitung on April 8.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly shaken by earthquakes.

The country's worst, a magnitude 7.6 quake, killed some 2,400 people in September 1999.
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