The epicenter of the quake was 7.5km underground. Independent service EMSC earlier put the magnitude at 6.5. Witnesses cited by EMSC have described long and powerful tremors, which visibly shook their apartments. There were no immediate reports of damage caused by the quake.
USA Today reports:
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.1 quake's epicenter was 9 miles northeast of the city of Hualien, at a depth of just 4.9 miles. Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones.
Taiwan's Central News Agency said the island's earthquake monitoring agency registered seven tremors around that time, with the strongest recorded at a magnitude of 5.8 and a depth of 10 miles.
Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. In 2016, a shallow earthquake in southern Taiwan killed at least two dozen people.
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