UPDATE 1 -- Strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake hits southern Taiwan

[News_Editor]

UPDATE 1 -- Strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake hits southern Taiwan

2012-02-26 10:29:17 GMT+7 (ICT)

TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck southern Taiwan on late Sunday morning, with shaking felt as far away as Taipei City in the north, seismologists and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake at 10:35 a.m. local time (02:35 GMT) was centered about 1.6 kilometer (1 mile) east of Wutai, a rural township in Pingtung County. It struck about 20.4 kilometers (12.6 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the country's Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at 5.9 on the regional moment magnitude (Mw) scale, estimated that some 214,000 people near the epicenter may have felt 'very strong' shaking. It said 6.3 million others may have felt moderate to strong shaking.

Sunday's earthquake struck about 32.4 kilometers (20.1 miles) southeast of Kaohsiung, the island's second-largest city with a population of about 2.9 million. Shaking could be felt as far away as Taipei City, the country's capital in the north, but there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

Located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, Taiwan is frequently rattled by moderate and strong earthquakes. On April 26, 2010, a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Taiwan, injuring 96 people and damaging at least 340 buildings throughout the island.

And on September 21, 1999, a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Taiwan, killing at least 2,297 people and injuring nearly 9,000 others. The quake, the second-deadliest earthquake in the island's history, also left some 600,000 people homeless.

The only earthquake more deadly than the earthquake in 1999 was a powerful earthquake that struck western Taiwan on April 21, 1935. It left at least 3,276 people killed and injured more than 12,000 others. Railways were left destroyed, iron bridges were fractured and tunnels cracked.

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