A newspaper reported 30 people were hurt, while authorities said its tally showed 12 were injured in the 6.4-magnitude quake, which also momentarily cut off electricity to over half a million homes.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor struck about 70 kilometres (about 40 miles) from the island's second-largest city Kaohsiung, but it was felt as far north as the capital Taipei, several hundred kilometres away.

"We are monitoring the aftermath for any potential damage," President Ma Ying-jeou told reporters during a hastily arranged trip to Tainan, a city north of the epicentre.

The quake struck in a sparsely inhabited mountainous area in Jiahsian township in Kaohsiung county, an area still recovering from a massive typhoon that triggered floods and mudslides in August, killing about 700 people.

"It felt like the buildings were going to collapse," said Chen Pei-chi, a teacher in Shiaolin Elementary School in a village close to the epicentre.

"I tried to get out, but my legs failed me because I was so frightened. Many children were screaming while they were running out of the classrooms."

It was the biggest earthquake to hit the Kaohsiung area in recent years, the weather bureau reported, and followed massive killer quakes in Chile on Saturday and Haiti in January.

The bureau said the initial quake at 8:18 am (0018 GMT) was followed by 19 aftershocks. The strongest, with a magnitude of 5.7, hit eight hours later.

Local television showed footage of collapsed farm houses in Kaohsiung county as well as cracked walls and falling ceiling panels in buildings in the nearby Chiayi area. Islandwide, 540,000 homes were left temporarily without power.

The quake derailed a carriage in a train on the high-speed rail connecting the north and the south of the island, leaving passengers stranded for two hours, the national fire agency said, but there were no casualties.

A fire broke out in a textile factory in Tainan county, with one worker slightly hurt during the evacuation, the agency said. Television footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the building.

Most of the 12 people injured were hit by falling objects, but none was in a serious condition, the agency said. The United Evening News said 30 were injured.

"The building was shaking violently and I was really scared. It felt just like a typhoon lashing out," said Chang Shu-yuan, a resident of Kaohsiung city, which has a population of about 1.5 million.

No tsunami warning was issued from the quake, which the USGS said struck at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles).

The defence ministry said it had dispatched at least 10 helicopters to survey quake-hit areas to assess the extent of the damage.

The tremor also caused buildings to shake in Southern Taiwan Science Park, one of the nerve centres of the island's high-tech export machine.

"Manufacturing at the companies in the park was interrupted as workers were evacuated to safety," said park spokesman Wu Men-feng.

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.

In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude quake killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.

Most modern buildings in Taiwan are built to withstand earthquakes, but the island's sophisticated infrastructure is nevertheless vulnerable to the forces of nature.

An earthquake off Taiwan in December 2006 hit an undersea cable, causing days of disruption to Internet and telephone connections in large parts of East Asia.

In August last year, Typhoon Morakot dumped more than three metres (120 inches) of rain on the south, triggering floods and mudslides which swamped houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges.

Taiwan is still rebuilding and relocating villages devastated by the typhoon, the deadliest to hit the island in half a century.

Most of the roughly 700 people killed or still listed as missing in the typhoon were from Kaohsiung county.

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