Late-night earthquakes rattle Taiwan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Two strong earthquakes jolted southeastern Taiwan in the early hours of Wednesday, injuring at least one person and causing infrastructural damage.

A magnitude 6.6 quake with a depth of 19 miles struck off the coast of the eastern Hualien County at 1:41 a.m. on Wednesday (1741GMT Tuesday), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

It was followed two minutes later by a magnitude 6.1 aftershock that had a depth of about 12 miles.

A series of some 20 more tremors were recorded over the next few hours, ranging in magnitude from 2.7 to as high as 5.8, CWB data showed.

Several roads in areas along Taiwan’s eastern coast were damaged, while power outages were also reported in southern parts.

Earthquakes are a regular occurrence in Taiwan as it lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, with 96 “catastrophic earthquakes” recorded since 1900, according to the CWB.