The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii initially placed the strength of the earthquake at 7.2 on the Richter scale and said it was centered at a few miles off Taiwan’s southern tip. It said there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami. Japan’s meteorological agency initially warned of a 3-foot wave heading for the northern Philippines but later said the danger had passed without incident, according to news agencies.

Local television stations reported that Taiwanese officials placed the quake at 6.7 on the Richter scale. The quake and a strong aftershock two minutes later, with an estimated strength of 6.4, were felt across the entire island of Taiwan. The quakes were unusually long, each lasting more than a minute, officials said.

A reporter’s hotel room swayed in Taipei, 200 miles from the epicenter, and the building creaked for 10 to 15 seconds during the quake and the aftershock. The hotel was not evacuated, and the streets were quiet and peaceful afterward.

The earthquake took place at 7:26 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, which was 8:26 p.m. on Tuesday evening in Taiwan.

The quake came on the second anniversary of the far more powerful one off Sumatra in Indonesia — estimated at 9.1 on the Richter scale — that triggered a tsunami up to 30 feet tall. That tsunami killed 230,000 people around the coastline of the Indian Ocean, most of them in Indonesia, and left nearly 2 million people homeless.

A Taiwanese official warned in a televised press conference on Tuesday night that there would probably be further aftershocks.

The earthquake took place close to Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second-largest city, with a population of 1.6 million people. Calls to Kaohsiung could not be completed because phone lines were busy.

Taiwan lies in one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the world. A small earthquake a little after 1 a.m. woke some in Taipei on Sunday morning.