An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale rattled northeastern Taiwan Sunday, but no casualties had been reported, according to news from Taiwan.
The epicenter of the quake was located about 73.7 kilometers east of Hualien County, northeastern Taiwan, and at a depth of 3.7kilometers beneath the surface of the sea.
Earthquakes are frequent in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.
Taiwan experienced its deadliest earthquake in five decades on September 21, 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 temblor struck central Taiwan, leaving 2,415 people dead and more than 10,000 others injured.
(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2002)
