Asia-Pacific News
Taiwna-quakes/Taiwan shaken by two mild earthquakes
Jun 15, 2008, 2:20 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan was struck by two mild earthquakes Sunday, but there was no report of damage or casualties.
The first quake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale occurred at 2329 GMT Saturday, with the epicentre in Kaohsiung County, south Taiwan, 6.3 kilometres underground, the Seismological Observation Centre said.
The second quake, measuring 4, occurred one and a half hours later off Taiwan's northeastern end.
At 0147 GMT, a magnitude-4 quake occurred off Taiwan's northeastern coast.
The epicentre of the second quake was 21.1 km off Ilan on Taiwan's northeastern tip, 12 kilometres under the sea.
There were no reports of damage or casualties.
Taiwan sits on the circum-Pacific seismic belt, also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Nearly 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes and 80 per cent of its largest earthquakes occur along this belt.
About 200 quakes of a magnitude of 4 or more jolt Taiwan each year, with a dozen of them above magnitude 5. Most of these tremors occur off Taiwan's east coast, caused by the friction between the Philippine and Eurasian plates.
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