A strong earthquake measuring a 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked Taiwan on Monday morning. The quake occurred at 9:45am, with the epicenter about 76 km off the east coast of Taiwan.
Fire officials say that one person was killed and another injured after an electricity transformer box exploded. So far there have been no other reports of serious damage following the quake.
Monday’s earthquake was the third quake measuring over a six on the Richter scale this year. It was recorded as a magnitude four in Ilan County and New Taipei, a three in Taipei, and 1-2 in the rest of Taiwan.
The head of the Central Weather Bureau’s Seismic Information Center, Kuo Kai-wen explains.
“It was recorded as a magnitude four in Ilan County and New Taipei City, but that only lasted for 0.12 seconds in New Taipei, it was very brief," said Kuo. "It was a magnitude over three for about 16 seconds, and over two for over 62 seconds. So it actually lasted for quite a while."
Kuo said it released energy equivalent to 1.4 atomic bombs.