An magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Yilan County at 9:53am yesterday.
The temblor’s hypocenter was in Suao Township (蘇澳), about 15.5km south-southeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 72.4km, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed.
There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the earthquake.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
The National Fire Agency said there had been no reports of damage anywhere in the nation.
Train services, including high speed rail, were not affected by the quake, although Taipei’s MRT temporarily slowed its trains in response to the quake.
The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Yilan and Hualien counties, where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale.
The quake also measured an intensity of 3 in Taoyuan, New Taipei City and Taichung, as well as in Nantou, Hsinchu and Changhua counties, the data showed.
The earthquake followed a magnitude 5.9 quake that hit about 130km off Yilan County on Tuesday at 11:26pm.
Tuesday’s quake was felt most strongly in Hualien County.
Taiwan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “ring of fire,” which the US Geological Survey says is the most seismically active zone in the world.
The most recent major earthquake occurred in April last year when the nation was hit by a deadly magnitude 7.4 tremor that officials said was the strongest in 25 years.
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