Taiwan earthquake: 5.7 quake SHAKES Taipei – Ring of Fire on alert

The quake struck 60 miles off the Hualien, on the nation’s east coast, according to earthquake monitor the US Geological Survey, which measured the natural disaster just below a magnitude of 6.0.

But despite the violent shake-up of the country, Taiwan’s weather bureau reported no immediate damage.

Witnesses however said that buildings shook in Taipei, in northern Taiwan.

The Central Weather Bureau said the earthquake hit a depth of 20 miles beneath the ground at 4.30pm UTC. 

Taiwan News added tremors with an intensity level of three were felt in Yilan County, New Taipei City and Taichung City.

This is based on Taiwan’s intensity scale of one to seven which the nation uses to measure earthquakes, which cane common due to the country’s location being on the Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where tremors and volcanic eruptions occur due to its oceanic trenches and volcanic arcs.

This area is sometimes referred to as the circum-Pacific belt.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, making the region prone to earthquakes.

In February, Hualien was hit by a devastating 6.4 magnitude earthquake that killed 17 people.

The quake resulted in several buildings to partially collapse as well as the landmark Marshal Hotel.

Taiwan’s worst earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude tremor that happened in 1999 and killed 2,400 people.