The tremors came two days after this year's biggest earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck Taiwan but inflicted minor damage and injuries in southern Taiwan.

A 5.1-Richter scale aftershock hit at 6:49 am (2239 GMT Thursday), with its epicenter at 18.2 kilometers (11.3 miles) west of Cheng Kung in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung county 10 kilometers underground, seismologists said.

It was followed by 5.0- and 4.7-magnitude tremors in the vicinity within a ten-minute duration, they said.

Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is prone to earthquakes. Statistics show that an average 3.7 tremors with the magnitude of 6.0 and over occurred annually in the past 10 years.

The island suffered its worst quake in a century when a tremor measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck central Taiwan on September 21, 1999 leaving 2,400 people dead.

TERRA.WIRE