The quake hit about 100km off the island of Pinghu in the Taiwan Strait, at a depth of 13km at 7.57am.
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan’s western coast early Monday morning, the US Geological Survey said, sending ripples hundreds of kilometres away in Hong Kong. No immediate casualties or damage were reported.
The quake hit about 100km off the island of Pinghu in the Taiwan Strait, at a depth of 13km at 7.57am.
According to local media reports, people in the city of Magong on Pinghu island had run outside after feeling effects from the quake. Taiwan’s central weather bureau said that the quake hit at a magnitude of 6.1, AFP reported.
The Hong Kong Observatory said it had received reports of tremors felt by residents. The epicentre was 470km north-east of the city.
Taiwan island, which lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly hit by earthquakes. I February, the eastern Hualien city was hit by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake that killed 17 people.
The island's worst such disaster in recent decades was a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 1999 that killed around 2,400 people.