Moderate quake jolts Taiwan

TERRA.WIRE

Moderate quake jolts Taiwan
TAIPEI (AFP) Dec 31, 2005
An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the open-ended Richter scale jolted Taiwan on Saturday, the seismology center said, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

The quake struck at 5:07 am (2107 GMT Friday), with the epicenter located 25.6 kilometers (16 miles) off the island's southeastern coast, at a depth of some 51 kilometers, seismologists said.

Taiwan, which lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly hit by earthquakes. The worst, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, rocked the island in September 1999 and left some 2,400 people dead.