A damaged house is pictured after the earthquake in southeast China's Taiwan, March 4, 2010. A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan at 8:20 AM Beijing Time Thursday, according to information released by Hong Kong Observatory. [Xinhua]

A strong earthquake measuring 6. 4 on the Richter scale hit China's Taiwan Thursday morning, according to information released by Hong Kong Observatory.

The quake, which occurred at 8:20 AM local time (0020 GMT), was centered at 22.9 degrees north latitude and 120.9 degrees east longitude, about 29 km west-northwest of Taitung in Taiwan's mountainous south region.

No tsunami warning was immediately issued.

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as it lies on the seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

It lost some 2,400 people to a powerful tremor in September 1999, one of the worst natural disasters in decades for the island.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2010)