Two earthquakes, one measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale, jolted the southern part of the country yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, seismologists said.
The stronger quake hit around 5:33am and originated 9.2km below the Earth's surface near Alishan, a popular tourist spot in eastern Chiayi County prone to seismic activity.
The quake was felt in most parts of the country, reaching 5 on the Richter scale in Kaohsiung, seismologists said.
The second quake, measuring nitude4.5 on the Richter scale, hit around 8:06am, with its epicenter about 20km south of Alishan. It originated 13.4km below the Earth's surface.
Central Weather Bureau Seismology Center director Kuo Chi-wen (
Kuo noted that the mountainous areas in central Taiwan are frequently struck by earthquakes of around magnitude 5.
Most of the tremors, however, originate so far underground that their surface intensity is weakened to the point of posing no danger, Kuo said.
Minor tremors and aftershocks have been a daily occurrence since a massive quake struck the island on Sept. 21 leaving around 2,400 people dead, 11,000 injured and more than 100,000 homeless, according to government statistics.
The 921 quake measured 7.6 and was the biggest to hit the island in the past 100 years.
On Oct. 22, another quake measuring 6.4 hit Chiayi County, injuring several hundred people.
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