Taiwan rocked by earthquake, no reports of damage

TAIPEI, Oct 12: An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rattled Taiwan late today, the Central Weather Bureau said, with tremors felt in the capital Taipei where buildings shook.

There were no immediate reports of damage, according to cable television news channel TVBS.

A spokesman for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world's top contract chip manufacturer, told Reuters by telephone operations were unaffected.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 10:46 p.m. (2016 hrs IST) was about 90 km (58 miles) southeast of Ilan county on the eastern coast, at a depth of 3.5 km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement on its Web site (www.cwb.gov.tw).

Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999.

Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.

REUTERS