Earthquake Rattles Taiwan, Tremors Felt in Taipei
Date: 31-Jul-06
Country: CHINA
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd and United Microelectronics Corp., the world's top two contract chip manufacturers, and the island's top oil refiner, Chinese Petroleum Corp, said operations were unaffected so far.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 3:40 p.m (0740 GMT) was about 82 km (52 miles) southeast of Ilan county on the eastern coast, at a depth of 5 km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.
One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.
