The largest earthquake in Taiwan this year shook the nation at 8:05am yesterday morning, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
The initial quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, but no deaths or injuries were reported.
The earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, did not hamper rescue efforts in the wake of Typhoon Morakot or rupture any barrier lakes that have formed in mountainous area, the bureau said.
“The power generated by the earthquake equaled that of two atomic bombs,” said Lu, deputy director of the bureau’s seismology center, adding that the seismic waves were mostly absorbed by layers of rock below the Earth’s surface.
The epicenter of the quake was 187.7km southeast of the bureau’s observation station in Hualien at a depth of 11km.
CWB statistics show that earthquakes measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale happen on average 3.3 times per year.
Quakes exceeding 6.5 occur around 1.5 times a year, the figures show.
The highest earthquake intensity was reported in Taitung, where the magnitude reached 4.0 on the Richter scale.
Hualien, Ilan, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou and Yunlin recorded an earthquake intensity of 3.0, while the intensity in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Penghu reached 2.0.
An earthquake of similar magnitude rattled Taiwan on July 14. Measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, the temblor struck off the coast near the bureau’s station in Hsiulin (秀林), Hualien County, at a depth of 9.4km.
RSS