This morning, a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck northeast of the island of Taiwan, deep beneath the ocean floor.
The temblor occurred on November 8 at 11:59am local time and was centered about 310 miles northeast of Taiwan’s capital city of Taipei -- about 136 northeast of Naha, Okinawa.
The USGS revised the initial 6.8 magnitude quake, upgrading it to a 6.9, and noted the depth to be at 130 miles. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any alerts.
Residents of both Japan and Northeast Taiwan reported feeling the earthquake, but no immediate damages or casualties were reported. Researchers note one reason for the lack of any serious damage can be attributed to the earthquake’s significant depth, limiting the severity of its impact on the surrounding islands.
Several people in Taipei immediately recognized this was likely a big earthquake due to the amount of time buildings shook. Reports on Twitter began immediately coming in of shaking for at least one to two minutes in various parts of Taipei.
This Examiner was working northeast of Taipei when the earthquake struck. I felt shaking and rolling for nearly three minutes from atop our 24-story building. My laptop bumped across the coffee table, nearly falling on to the floor. Several knick-knacks fell over on shelves, and cracks caused by prior earthquakes widened on the walls, but we did not sustain any major damage.
Residents in Taiwan and southern Japan can expect additional earthquakes as aftershocks are commonplace following an earthquake of this magnitude.
Taiwan and Japan are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and are both prone to regular seismic activity. Japan is still recovering from the catastrophic 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March of this year that struck the northeastern part of the country, also triggering one of the worst nuclear disasters in the world. One of the worst earthquakes to hit Taiwan was a 7.6 magnitude in 1999 that is commonly referred to as the "921 Earthquake." It struck Taiwan's central Nantou County, killing 2,415 people and injuring over 11,000, becoming the second deadliest quake to ever strike Taiwan.
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