Southwestern Taiwan hit by earthquakes

An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted the waters off southern Taiwan's Pingdong County on Tuesday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The tremor occurred at 9:43 pm (Beijing local time) as per Xinhua News Agency.

The epicentre was monitored at 22.18 degrees north latitude and 120.11 degrees east longitude, at a depth of 20 km, the CENC said.

Earlier in the morning, two earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 and 4.8, respectively hit the coast of southwestern Taiwan two hours apart, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

According to the bureau's Seismology Center, the first quake with a magnitude of 5.0, occurred at 4:07 a.m. It was centred 68.4 kilometres south-southwest of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 42.6 kilometres, Focus Taiwan reported.

The second quake occurred at 6:03 am, with its epicentre located 67.2 kilometres south-southwest of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 40.2 kilometres.

According to Focus Taiwan, the data showed that the intensity of the first quake in Pingdong was measured at 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale, whereas the second quake in Kaohsiung was measured at an intensity of 2, and an intensity of 1 was registered in Tainan, Taitung County, and Chiayi County.

There were no reports of casualties. Further details are awaited.

(ANI)