TAIPEI - An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale rattled Taiwan early Sunday but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the Seismology Center.
The temblor hit at 6:40 am (2240 GMT Saturday), with its epicenter 19.9 kilometers (11.94 kilomters) northeast of Taitung, a town in the island's southeast. It originated 11.7 kilometers (7.02 kilometers) beneath the seabed.
"Aftershocks with a magnitude of more than 5.0 are expected to hit the southeast," an official at the centre said.
Earlier the US Geological Survey had put the quake's magnitude at 5.8, with its epicenter 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of Taipei.
At least 51 people were injured by falling objects when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted Taitung on April 8.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly shaken by earthquakes. The country's worst, a magnitude-7.6 quake, killed some 2,400 people in September 1999.
04/16/2006 03:08 GMT