The most powerful of over 200 tremors was recorded at 6.1 on the scale by the USGS, with shaking continuing throughout the night.
Taiwan experienced a series of dozens of earthquakes that made buildings shake. The government said these were aftershocks from a major earthquake that happened over two weeks ago. The strongest tremor in this recent cluster, measured at 6.1 magnitude by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), occurred around 2:30 am (18:30 GMT). Shortly after, a 6.0 magnitude tremor followed.
The earthquakes, measured at 6.0 and 6.3 by Taipei’s Central Weather Administration, were centered around Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast. They caused buildings to shake across large parts of northern, eastern, and western Taiwan throughout the night. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
Kevin Lin, a 53-year-old office worker in Taipei, was woken up by the quake and was too scared to get out of bed.
Around 8am (00:00 GMT), as people were heading to work, a 5.8-magnitude tremor shook the capital city.
Hualien, a mountainous county about 150km (93 miles) from Taipei, was the center of a major earthquake on April 3, which caused severe damage to buildings in Hualien City and triggered landslides in the area. That quake killed at least 14 people, and there have been over 1,100 aftershocks.
According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, the recent cluster of earthquakes are considered aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake.