Magnitude 4.9 earthquake jolts E. Taiwan

台灣發生4.9級地震

Magnitude 4.9 temblor rattles Hualien, Taiwan, followed by three more within two hours

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 4.9 earthquake shook eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 3:20 a.m. on Sunday morning (Feb. 16), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the temblor was located 18.5 kilometers southwest of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 6.2 km, based on CWB data. Taiwan uses an intensity scale of 1 to 7, which gauges the degree to which a quake is felt at a specific location.

Except for Hualien County, where the quake’s intensity registered as 4, other counties registered the intensity between 1 and 2. It was recorded as 2 in Nantou County, Taichung County, Yilan County, Yunlin County, and as 1 in Chiayi County, Taitung County, Changhua County, Hsinchu County, and Miaoli County.

This quake preceded three others over the next two hours, and all of the epicenters were in Hualien, where the intensities ranged from 3.1 to 3.8. On Saturday night (Feb. 16), the county was also hit by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake, with vibrations felt across Taiwan.

No injuries resulting from these quakes have been reported at the time of publication.