Aftershocks unlikely after Chiayi fracture-zone quake: Seismologist

Taipei, Dec. 30 (CNA) Aftershocks are not expected in relation to a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan's southwestern Chiayi County at 3.51 a.m. on Monday, according to a top seismologist at the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

Wu Chien-fu (吳健富), director of the CWA's Seismological Center, told CNA that the early-morning quake, whose epicenter was located in Meishan Township at a depth of 12.3 kilometers, was a "fracture zone earthquake" caused by tectonic collisions and was therefore unlikely to cause aftershocks.

Around 70 percent of Taiwan's earthquakes occur in the island's less-populated eastern half, the seismologist said, due to collisions between the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates.

According to the CWA, the earthquake's intensity was highest in Chiayi County, Chiayi City, and neighboring Yunlin and Nantou counties, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's 7-tier scale. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Wu also emphasized that the earthquake was "unrelated" to the Meishan fault, a geological feature closely associated with the 1906 Meishan earthquake -- Taiwan's third most deadly seismic event -- that claimed around 1,260 lives.

Wu had warned in April that a Meishan fault earthquake had not occurred for more than 120 years, so the "accumulated potential energy is indeed worth paying attention to."