Strong quake shakes Taiwan, no casualties reported
( 2003-12-10 15:04) (Xinhua)
A strong earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale rattled eastern Taiwan
on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, the
weather bureau said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 12:38 p.m. (0438 GMT), was about
three km (two miles) west of Cheng Kung in Taitung county on the island's
southeast coast, at a depth of 10 km (six miles), the Central Weather Bureau
said in a statement.Taiwan's interior ministry said the Taitung county
government reported no damage except mobile phone service outages.
Tremors could be felt as far as the capital city of Taipei, near the island's
northern tip.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest
contract microchip maker, said it saw no immediate damage at its main facilities
in northwestern Taiwan's Hsinchu.
Workers were not evacuated and no power outage occurred, a TSMC official
said.Flat computer screen makers AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics also
said their manufacturing plants were operating normally.
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.
|
