Quake shakes Taiwan, no reports of damage

TAIPEI (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 shook Taiwan on Wednesday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 9:08 a.m. (0108 GMT) was about 49.9 km in the eastern city of Taitong, at a depth of 16.6 km, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The island's authorities use the Richter scale to measure earthquakes.

Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

One of the island's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.

(Reporting by Taipei bureau; Editing by Paul Tait)