People across Taiwan have reported feeling “shaking” and tremors after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the island’s north-east coast.

The earthquake started at around 11.05pm local time on Saturday – 32 kilometres (20 miles) from the coastal town of Yilan – but was felt across the island.

Buildings in the capital Taipei shook as Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te urged residents to be alert for possible aftershocks.

One resident in Yilan County described how a building shook first vertically and then horizontally.

"It kept on shaking for a while. Then I ran out, but most people did not run out. I was scared," he said.

The epicentre was 70 kilometres (43 miles) deep, and there were no immediate reports of widespread damage or casualties.

Local television showed hanging TVs swaying inside an office building, and spilt cleaning products and broken bottles that had fallen off supermarket shelves.

More than 3,000 homes in Yilan briefly lost power, Taiwan Power Company said, as Taipei’s city government reported isolated cases of damage including gas and water leakage and minor damage to buildings.

It designated the incident a category four earthquake, meaning minor damage is possible.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said that a small number of its facilities in the Hsinchu science park, where it is headquartered, reached evacuation criteria due to the quake.

The weather administration warned people should be on alert for aftershocks between 5.5 and 6.0 in the coming day, but that damage from the quake should be limited because it was relatively deep and hit offshore.

A number of “high wave” advisories were issued in the Japanese regions of Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, and Okinawa, but no tsunami alerts or warnings were given.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake with a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9 is described as “strong” on the Richter scale.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3 magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.