TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= TAIWAN / EARTHQUAKE (S)

NUMBER=2-288179

BYLINE=RENE MC GUFFIN

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

/// EDITORS: PLEASE UPDATE DEATH TOLL IF NECESSARY BASED ON THE LATEST CN STORY ///

INTRO: The Island of Taiwan has been hit by a strong earthquake, which collapsed several buildings and shut down the subway system in the capital Taipei. Initial reports say at least two people were killed and several others are missing. Rene McGuffin brings us this report.

TEXT: The earthquake registering 6.8 on the richter scale rocked Taiwan in the early afternoon on Sunday.

A government emergency response center official said that several buildings collapsed from the jolt. The earthquake was centered in the ocean, 44 km east of the central Taiwanese city of Hualien.

Tremors from the quake were felt as far away as Hong Kong, 900 kilometers to the south-east.

The earthquake caused at least one building to collapse in the capital Taipei, while others swayed for several minutes, some of them sustaining cracks. The city's subway system was shut down for safety checks, officials said.

In September 1999 an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the richter scale killed 24-hundred people, and flattened 50-thousand buildings in Taiwan. (Signed)

NEB/RM/MAR/KBK