TAIPEI: A 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Taiwan today, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, with the tremor shaking buildings in Taipei but causing no major damage.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) put the magnitude of the quake, which hit just after 5pm, at 5.7.
According to the USGS, it hit at a shallow depth of 11km in the sea about 44km southeast of Yilan county.
“The building was swaying,” an AFP reporter in the capital said.
The CWA also issued mobile phone alerts warning people to “keep calm and seek cover nearby”.
Taiwan was hit by a deadly 7.4 magnitude quake in April, the strongest the island had experienced in 25 years.
At least 17 people were killed in the April quake, which triggered landslides and severely damaged buildings around the epicentre in Hualien city.