World

Another Quake Shakes Taiwan

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 22, 1999 / 7:19 AM EDT / CBS

Another major tremor and dozens of aftershocks shook quake-ravaged Taiwan Friday, damaging schools, blacking out tens of thousands of homes and injuring about 230 people, officials and local media said. No deaths were reported.

The 6.4-magnitude quake that struck near the southern city of Chiayi was not related to the stronger tremor that killed more than 2,300 people one month ago in central Taiwan, seismologists said.

Damage from Friday's quake was minor compared to the 7.6-magnitude tremor on Sept. 21. Only a few buildings were damaged Friday, while thousands were destroyed last month.

A spate of aftershocks followed, including one that pushed the Richter needle to 6.0, prompting the evacuation of hospitals, businesses and other buildings, officials said.

Chiayi, with a population of 263,000 and located 180 miles south of Taipei, has been hit by several strong quakes in the past century, and seismologists have said it was due for another big one soon.

The island's main evening newspapers reported Friday that about 200 people were taken to hospitals. Most suffered only minor injuries, local television reported.

The quake knocked over bottles of chemicals in a lab at Chungcheng University in Chiayi, causing an explosion and a fire that was quickly extinguished.

Â"Everything fell off the shelves and the glassware shattered and everyone ran out of the laboratory,Â" one student told the television.

A section of a high school collapsed, injuring seven people, officials said.

The first floor of a shipping company's two-story building also gave way, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

Â"We thought one person was trapped in the building, and we were calling for him, but five minutes later he escaped through the back of the building,Â" the company's owner told the television.

About 90,000 homes lost power.

Located along the earthquake-prone Pacific Rim and crisscrossed by 51 fault lines, Taiwan is rattled by scores of earthquakes each year, most harmless.

Seismologists warned of further aftershocks in coming weeks, but said the Chiayi tremor had released energy in Taiwan's southern quake belt, reducing the chances of a bigger shock.