A magnitude 5.4 earthquake rocked northern Taiwan early yesterday, the biggest temblor Taiwan has seen since since the beginning of the year, the Central Weather Bureau said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The quake, with its epicenter in Yilan County, was felt most significantly in Yilan’s Luodong Township (羅東), where an intensity-5 tremor lasted for 26.7 seconds, according to bureau data.
Many residents in northern Taiwan, including those in the capital, were wakened and could feel the strong earthquake that lasted for more than 10 seconds at about 4:25am.
An aftershock with a magnitude of 4.2 occurred in Yilan about two minutes later, with both quakes representing normal releases of energy, bureau Seismology Center director Kuo Kai-wen (郭鍇紋) said.
There were 20 earthquakes registering a magnitude of 5 or greater in 2012 and last year respectively, he said.
The epicenter of the latest earthquake was in Datong Township (大同), 16.8km west of Yilan City, at a depth of 61.9km, the bureau said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
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