A cable television report said people in the southeastern city of Taitung ran out into the streets.

A fire department official in Taitung told AFP by telephone that falling rocks were reported in a village.

The National Fire Agency, which coordinates rescue work, said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Buildings in the capital shook for about a minute and the quake was felt islandwide.

The tremor struck at 3:04 pm (0704 GMT), with the epicenter 25.6 kilometers (15.36 miles) east of Chengkung, a coastal town in the southeast of the island.

Its focus was 8.7 kilometers below sea level.

Kuo Kai-wen, head of the Seismology Center, said: "It was the result of the Philippine Plate crunching the Eurasian Plate."

Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is prone to earthquakes. A quake with a magnitude of 5.8 shook Taiwan on May 1, killing two Taiwanese and injuring a Canadian tourist.

On September 21, 1999, a quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck central Taiwan, leaving 2,400 people dead.

A 6.6 magnitude quake shook Taiwan on December 10, 2003, but caused minor injuries and damage.

TERRA.WIRE