A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous, rural area of Taiwan’s south on Tuesday near the city of Chiayi, the island’s weather administration said, with reports of minor damage.
Chipmaker TSMC said it had evacuated staff at its factories in central and southern Taiwan, and they were all safe.
The earthquake shook buildings in the capital, Taipei. The quake had a depth of 9.4km (6 miles) with its epicentre in Dapu township in Chiayi county, and hit just after midnight, the weather administration said.
The fire department said a handful of people were trapped in damaged buildings in the city of Tainan, and some had already been rescued.
The Chiayi fire department also said there were no reports of major casualties so far in the city, while an official in Dapu, who gave his family name as Chi, told Reuters power cuts were reported in some villages and some buildings were damaged.
The Dapu fire department told Reuters there were no “obvious signs of disaster”.
