Taiwan was jolted early Friday by an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale and numerous aftershocks, but no major damage was reported.

A first powerful temblor struck at 1:51 am (1751 GMT Thursday) and was quickly followed by several aftershocks measuring between 3.5 and 5.7, all having the same epicentre located 27 kilometres beneath the sea floor.

According to the Seismological Observation Centre, Friday’s jolt didn’t cause so much damage because its epicentre was at about 74 kilometres from Ilan on the north-eastern coast of Taiwan.

Another quake struck two hours later the Taitung region in southeastern part of the island, but the 3.9-magnitude jolt wasn’t an aftershock and had a different epicentre, specialists said.

No serious material damage was reported, but panic quickly spread among people living at the top floors of buildings. Many ran into the streets when their windows began shaking and remained there for several hours, fearing strong aftershocks will follow.

Rocks came tumbling down on a highway in northeastern Taiwan, while a small part of a Buddhist temple in Ilan collapsed without causing any casualties. Several cars were damaged by falling bricks in a city adjacent to Taipei, but no person was injured, authorities informed.

Officials from the Seismological Observation Centre said the quake is usual for this region and represents an outburst of seismic energy, therefore there is no reason for people to be alerted.

“The 5.7 quake was the aftershock of the 6.6 quake. So after the 6.6 quake, there shouldn't be any bigger quake,” the agency’s deputy director Lu Pei-ling said.

About 200 earthquakes of different intensities strike Taiwan each year, the island being located in the Pacific Ring of Fire where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

Usually the temblors cause minor damage, the last major quake striking central Taiwan eight years ago. Then, about 2,400 people died and more than 10,000 were wounded by a jolt measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale.