Kaohsiung

TAIPEI (AFP) – A powerful earthquake that rocked southern Taiwan caused millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and business operations, officials and companies said Friday.

At least 96 people were injured in the 6.4-magnitude quake which disrupted rail services, toppled farm houses, and momentarily cut off electricity to more than half a million homes.

A fire that broke out soon after the quake at Everest Textile and lasted for nearly a day was estimated to have caused at least 100 million Taiwan dollars (3.1 million US) worth of damage, said the company, located in Tainan county.

The tremor also disrupted operations in Southern Taiwan Science Park, a crucial component in the island's high-tech export industry, as production lines were temporarily shut down for safety evacuation.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), the world's two largest contract chipmakers, both reported a 36-hour production delay in their facilities in Tainan.

"The impact is limited and the insurance company will cover it," said a UMC spokesman. TSMC said it was still assessing the loss.

Taiwan High Speed Rail was forced to suspend services to southern Taiwan on Thursday following a minor derailing during the quake, but it declined to say how much revenue it lost.

The company resumed some services to quake-hit areas on Friday and is expected to return to a full schedule on Monday, a spokeswoman said.

About 99 schools have reported an estimated 40 million Taiwan dollars in quake damage to buildings and classrooms, according to the education ministry.

US-based catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT said in a note to clients that it estimated total economic damage from the quake to stay below one billion US dollars, including losses from secondary fires and landslides.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor struck about 70 kilometres (40 miles)

from the island's second-largest city Kaohsiung, but was felt as far north as the capital Taipei, several hundred kilometres away.

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.

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.