The tremor struck at 00:30 am (1630 GMT Monday) with an epicenter eight kilometers (4.96 miles) east of Niutou in eastern Ilan County, the Seismology Center said.

The tremor originated 56 kilometers under the earth's crust, it said. Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is prone to earthquakes. The island suffered its worst quake in a century when a temblor measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit central Nantou on September 21, 1999, leaving 2,400 people dead and some 100,000 homeless.

TERRA.WIRE