One man died and another was hospitalised Monday after a fire caused by a powerful quake off Taiwan that set buildings shaking in the capital Taipei and sparked a short-lived tsunami warning in far southwestern Japan.

Japanese forecasters had warned the 6.6 magnitude earthquake could cause a tsunami as high as 1m affecting several islands in the Okinawa chain. But they lifted the alert around an hour later, with no abnormal waves recorded.

No damage was reported in Japan, but a four-storey apartment building in New Taipei City caught fire after an electrical box outside the block exploded in the quake.

A 65-year-old man who lived in the building "showed no signs of life" at the scene, the fire service said.

Another 18-year-old resident remains in hospital with smoke inhalation but is not in a serious condition, the fire service said.

Time

1. 2015-04-20 01:42:58 (UTC)
2. Times in other timezones

Nearby Cities

1. 71km (44mi) SE of Su'ao, Taiwan
2. 76km (47mi) ENE of Hualian, Taiwan
3. 91km (57mi) SE of Yilan, Taiwan
4. 125km (78mi) SSE of Keelung, Taiwan
5. 861km (535mi) ENE of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Scientific Data

Time

1. 2015-04-17 15:52:51 (UTC)
2. Times in other timezones

Nearby Cities

1. 183km (114mi) SSW of Sigave, Wallis and Futuna
2. 224km (139mi) ENE of Lambasa, Fiji
3. 401km (249mi) NE of Suva, Fiji
4. 474km (295mi) ENE of Nadi, Fiji
5. 679km (422mi) NNW of Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Scientific Data

Two earthquakes, one measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale and the other 3.8, rocked Assam in a span of about two hours in the early hours of Friday, forcing people to jump out of bed and run outdoors.

While the first tremor, which lasted about seven seconds, was felt at 3:35 AM, it was followed by smaller one at 5:50 AM.

The Met department website put the epicenter of the first earthquake at a place in Sonitpur district at 26.8 N Latitude and 92.7 E Longitude, and that of the second tremor in Morigaon district at 26.3 N Latitude and 92.4 E Longitude. The depth of both the tremors has been put at 10 km.

Geomorphologically located in earthquake zone V of the Indian subcontinent, the Northeastern region is marked as a highly seismic area.

With these, the Northeastern region along with adjoining Bangladesh, Myanmar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have recorded as many as nine earthquakes in the current month.

Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela were shaken by a 5.2-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday evening, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The quake was focused at an epicentre around 34 kilometres north-northeast of Irapa in Venezuela and about 105 kilometres west-northwest of Port of Spain in Trinidad.

The quake, which struck at around 9:24 PM local time, was felt across Trinidad and Tobago, with light to moderate shaking the norm.

The quake was felt as far north as St George's in Grenada.

Much of the Caribbean region is located in a seismically active zone.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 6.1 earthquake has struck near the Greek island Crete Thursday.

The USGS reports the quake's epicenter was located 29 miles (47 kilometers) northeast of Karpathos, Greece at a depth of 20.9 kilometers. The quake hit at 11:07 a.m. PDT, 9:07 p.m. local time.
The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the quake was felt on the islands of Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes.

The highest rates of earthquake activity in the Mediterranean region are found along the southern part Greece, along the North Anatolian Fault Zone of western Turkey and the Calabrian zone of southern Italy.

Strong earthquakes with an epicenter off the coast can trigger tsunamis, depending on the size and type of the fault movement. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center tracks earthquake data for the West Coast.

A 5.2 magnitude earthquake has struck off the Northeast coast of Japan. The shallow quake occurred at a depth of about 10 km (6.2) miles under the sea, near the Japanese Trench. Japan and the surrounding islands straddle four major tectonic plates: Pacific plate; North America plate; Eurasia plate; and Philippine Sea plate. The Pacific plate is subducted into the mantle, beneath Hokkaido and northern Honshu, along the eastern margin of the Okhotsk microplate, a proposed subdivision of the North America plate. Farther south, the Pacific plate is subducted beneath volcanic islands along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate. This 2,200 km-long zone of subduction of the Pacific plate is responsible for the creation of the deep offshore Ogasawara and Japan trenches as well as parallel chains of islands and volcanoes, typical of Circumpacific island arcs. Similarly, the Philippine Sea plate is itself subducting under the Eurasia plate along a zone, extending from Taiwan to southern Honshu that comprises the Ryukyu Islands and the Nansei-Shoto trench.

Subduction zones at the Japanese island arcs are geologically complex and produce numerous earthquakes from multiple sources. Deformation of the overriding plates generates shallow crustal earthquakes, whereas slip at the interface of the plates generates interplate earthquakes that extend from near the base of the trench to depths of 40 to 60 km. At greater depths, Japanese arc earthquakes occur within the subducting Pacific and Philippine Sea plates and can reach depths of nearly 700 km. Since 1900, three great earthquakes occurred off Japan and three north of Hokkaido. They are the M8.4 1933 Sanriku-oki earthquake, the M8.3 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake, the M9.0 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the M8.4 1958 Etorofu earthquake, the M8.5 1963 Kuril earthquake, and the M8.3 1994 Shikotan earthquake.

Small earthquake swarms occurred at shallow depths during the past days near the volcano. The quakes were located approx. 6-10 km south of Hekla volcano and at shallow depths around 5 km.
The largest quakes were two magnitude 2.6 events at 4 km depth on Thursday (9 April). It is impossible to say whether the earthquakes are linked to volcanic activity and thus might be precursors of a new eruption, but Hekla is probably the most likely candidate volcano for the next eruption to occur on Iceland.
One of the country's most active, and the most frequently erupting volcano, Hekla has been believed to be "due" and have its magma chamber filled for several years now. Known for not giving much precursory signals (and only few earthquakes), an eruption would not be a surprise at all.

Kliuchevskoi (Kamchatka): After less than two weeks pause, the volcano started to erupt again - mild strombolian explosions at the summit crater and small ash emissions.

Fears of fresh eruption of Mount Zao, a volcano that sits on the border of the Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures, rattled Japan after the country's meteorological agency recorded 12 volcanic earthquakes on Tuesday.

The seismic activity prompted warnings of a volcanic eruption, with the agency asking the public to stay safe from falling rocks in a 1.2 km radius of the volcano, The Japan Times reported.

The agency said that ash from the eruption can even reach beyond the radius, causing panic after last year's deadly volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake, which erupted without warning on 27 September and killed 60 people.

The meteorological agency has advised neighbouring towns to raise alert levels in the areas close to the volcano.

The warning will affect business at a popular ski resort, as well as mountain trails and restaurants.

Cyprus has been hit by a 5.6-magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck just off the Mediterranean island's west coast, about four miles from the village of Peyia.

It was mainly felt in the western Paphos region, but also in the capital Nicosia at 11.25am local time.

Paphos district officer Yiannakis Mallourides reported no major damage to structures or injuries, but said authorities are monitoring the situation.

@michelleuk87 wrote on Twitter: "So weird feeling the #earthquake in #Cyprus this morning whilst on my sunbed. #nicosia"