New quake rattles Taiwan...11/01/99

Stephanie Watson & Kevin O'Shea, weather.com

Six weeks to the day after a devastating earthquake killed 2,400 people in Taiwan, a powerful tremor struck, shaking up already rattled nerves across the island.

The quake, which hit at 1:53 a.m. (12:53 EST Monday), registered 6.9 on the Richter scale, state seismologists said. The September 21 quake, by comparison, hit with a 7.2-7.6 magnitude. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.

The island was spared the brunt of this quake because its epicenter was out in the Pacific Ocean, 28 miles northeast of Taiwan. Still, frightened residents scrambled out into the streets and stayed there for half an hour before returning to high rise buildings. "I would rather stay on the street to wait and see. Memories of the terrifying September quake are still fresh," said taxicab driver Chien Ting-kuang, who had just moved away from the central county of Nantou, where the September quake hit hardest.

Tuesday's quake was one of the strongest of thousands of aftershocks that have rocked Taiwan since September.