Magnitude 5.8 earthquake shakes eastern Taiwan's Hualien

台灣東部花蓮地區發生5.8級地震

Magnitude 5.8 quake strikes off the coast of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, multiple aftershocks follow


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien at 9:56 p.m. tonight (Feb. 4), which several aftershocks striking within minutes later, after a busy day of seismic activity around the island, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of Sunday's largest quake was 27.8 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall at a shallow depth of 16 kilometers.

An intensity level of 5 was felt in Hualien and Yilan, Nantou registered an intensity level of 4, while Taichung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Yunlin, Taipei City and New Taipei City felt an intensity level of 3. Keelung, Miaoli, Taitung, Chiayi, Changhua, and Tainan recorded an intensity level of 2, while Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Penghu all registered an intensity level of 1.




Location of epicenter of 5.8 quake, just off the cost of Hualien. (Image from KNY weather app)

By 10:28 p.m., a total of 10 aftershocks were reported, with the largest being a magnitude 5.5 temblor which struck at 10:13 p.m. The 5.5 quake was centered 23.6 kilometers north, northeast of the Hualien County Hall, at an even shallower depth of only 10 kilometers, based on CWB data.

Prior to the 5.8 earthquake at 9:56 p.m., multiple quakes rocked Hualien throughout the day, with the biggest precursor being a magnitude 5.1 temblor that struck at 9:21 p.m. The quake was centered 24 kilometers north-northeast of the Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 15.5 km, according to the CWB.


All of today's quakes were clustered just off the coast of Hualien. (CWB map)

No injuries were reported at the time of publication.

Located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, Taiwan uses an intensity scale of 1 to 7, which gauges the degree to which a quake is felt in a specific location.