Rumbles... yes it's an earthquake !!!

Last night, I finally managed to sleep around 1.30am when in my dreams I felt like someone was moving my bed to wake my up. Then, I heard a rumble and I finally woke up: It was a large earthquake hitting us ! It lasted longer than a minute and its amplitude was high. This is a copy of the official report:

Taipei (dpa) - Three earthquakes measuring 6.6, 5.7 and 3.9 on the Richter scale respectively rocked Taiwan early Friday, causing small damages but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The first quake, measuring 6.6, struck at 1:51 am Friday (1751 GMT Thursday) with its epicentre 74.6 kilometres from Ilan on Taiwan's northeastern coast and 27 kilometres under the sea, the Seismological Observation Centre said.

It was followed four minutes later by an 5.7-magnitude aftershock, in the same region.

At 3:32 am (1932 GMT Thursday), a tremor measuring 3.9 jolted Taitung in southeast Taiwan.

The quakes were felt all over the island, causing bottles and cups to tumble off shelves and window frames to rattle. Many residents living in high rises in Taipei ran onto the street, fearing their buildings might collapse.


Many earthquakes occur in Taiwan, as much as 200 earthquakes a year. A magnitude 7.1 quake struck Taiwan on Dec. 26, killing two people, cutting power and disrupting phone and Internet services throughout Asia. In 1999, a particularly large earthquake killed 2400 people and injured 10000.