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Two earthquakes over 5.0 shake Pingtung County

Two earthquakes, both of a magnitude of more than 5.0, rattled the south yesterday, with the epicenter of both located in Pingtung County, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

No injuries had been reported as of yesterday afternoon, officials from the Seismology Center said.

Hengchun

A magnitude 5.2 temblor rocked Pingtung at 12:33pm, with its epicenter located 31.2km southeast of Hengchun (恆春), a coastal township.

The quake, which had a focal depth of 18.5km, had an intensity of 4.0 in Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) — the southernmost tip of Taiwan — and 2.0 on nearby Lanyu (蘭嶼), said Hsiao Nai-chi (蕭乃祺), a division director of the CWB Seismology Center.

A second quake of magnitude 5.0 occurred at 2:19pm, with its epicenter located 36.8km southeast of Hengchun with a focal depth of 15.9km and an intensity of 4.0 in Oluanpi and 2.0 on Lanyu, Hsiao said.

ILAN

Earlier in the day, a temblor of magnitude 4.7 rocked Ilan at 6:33am with a depth of 92.1km.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rattled Ilan on June 2, but also caused no injuries, Hsiao said.

He called for the public not to be concerned.

ENERGY

Hsiao explained that the earthquakes were only the result of energy released from movements of the Philippine and Eurasian plates, on which Taiwan lies.

Taiwan experiences about 1,500 to 2,000 earthquakes each month, but the number of temblors stronger than magnitude 4.0 totals about a dozen, he said.
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