Quake shakes north Taiwan

An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked Taiwan yesterday, swaying buildings in the capital for half a minute, seismologists said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor hit at 3:36 pm from an epicenter 73.8km east of Hualien city. It originated 3.2km below the earth's crust. "The earthquake was not an aftershock of the powerful quake which hit on March 31. It was an independent one," said Kuo Kai-wen, head of the Seismology Center.