Tuesday’s quake struck at 7.05am local time at a depth of 5.7km. The epicentre was about 120km east of Hualien in eastern Taiwan.

According to the CWA, people across the entire island of Taiwan felt the quake. The quake was felt most strongly in Yilan County, where it rated three on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale.

Residents there received an earthquake alert on their mobile phones. Many residents were frightened and woke up. In the capital Taipei, residents were also woken up by the shaking.

There were no reports of serious injuries or damage.

CWA officials said today that the scale of the aftershocks will be smaller because the epicentre is far away. However, officials said, it cannot be ruled out that there will be aftershocks with a magnitude of 5.5 to 6.0 in the next five days.

The CWA said it was the first earthquake with a magnitude of six or above within the observation range so far this year. In the past 10 years, there have been an average of two to three earthquakes with a magnitude of six or above every year.

Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Tuesday that a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 20km, was detected in the sea adjacent to Yonaguni island in southern Japan.

In September 1999, the earthquake-prone Taiwanese island, which sits on the boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Philippine Sea plate, was hit by a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that left more than 2,400 people dead.