No report yet of Filipino casualty in Taiwan quake

Sunday, February 26, 2012

MANILA -- The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has yet to receive reports of missing or injured Filipinos after a 5.9-magnitude quake struck Taiwan on Sunday.

"No Filipino casualty has so far been report," DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a phone interview.

He clarified, however, that checking of Filipino nationals is ongoing as of press time, particularly in Taichung and Kaohsiung.

There is an estimated 83,000 Filipinos working and living in Taiwan, he said.

On Sunday, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan's second largest city.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said the quake struck at 10:35 a.m. (0235 GMT) in a mountainous area just inland from the coastal city of Pingtung, with a magnitude of 6.1.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 5.9 and said it had a depth of 2.9 miles (4.7 kilometers).

Taiwan television showed pictures of minor damage in the Pingtung area.

Television reports said high-speed rail service had been temporarily suspended out of the southern city of Kaohsiung, north of Pingtung.

Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. (AMN/AP/Sunnex)