A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan, seismologists and residents say. Shaking was felt as far away as Taipei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The earthquake, which struck at 3:24 a.m. local time on Tuesday, was centered about 59 kilometers east of Hualien County on the east coast of Taiwan. It struck at a depth of 18 kilometers, making it a very shallow earthquake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau put the preliminary magnitude at 5.9. It said an intensity of four out of seven – meaning moderate shaking – was felt in Heping in Hualien County and Yilan City in Yilan County. Light shaking was felt in Taipei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude slightly lower, at 5.7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries after Tuesday morning’s earthquake. There is no threat of a tsunami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taiwan, located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, is occasionally hit by moderate to strong earthquakes. A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan in 1999, killing at least 2,297 people and injuring nearly 9,000 others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan, seismologists and residents say. Shaking was felt as far away as Taipei. The earthquake, which struck at 3:24 a.m. local time on Tuesday, was centered about 59 kilometers east of Hualien County on the east coast of Taiwan. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[83,1102],"class_list":["post-36087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-earthquake","tag-taiwan"],"yoast_head":"\n