Earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above in Taiwan since 1900

Map of 12 locations in Taiwan

Taiwan sits where the Philippine Sea Plate meets the Eurasian Plate, and the instrumental record since 1900 holds a long run of large shocks along the island's eastern coast and rift valley, with others on the western plain and off the southern tip. Each entry here is a past event, placed where contemporary and later catalogues put the epicentre, with the damage and casualties as the record of the time described them.

Places in this collection

  • 2024 Hualien earthquake — The earthquake struck about 25 kilometres off the coast of Hualien County in the morning of 3 April 2024 local time. The Central Weather Ad…
  • 2006 Hengchun earthquakes — Two shocks struck at 20:26 and 20:34 local time on 26 December 2006 off the southwest coast of Taiwan, in the Luzon Strait. News agencies r…
  • 2002 Taiwan earthquake — The earthquake hit at 14:52 local time on 31 March 2002, with an epicentre offshore from Hualien, the area most severely affected and where…
  • 1986 Hualien earthquake — The earthquake struck Hualien City on the local date of 15 November 1986. Landslides came down along the highway between Su'ao and Hualien.…
  • 1972 Ruisui earthquake — Also recorded as the Juisui earthquake, it struck at 17:57 local time on 24 April 1972, with the epicentre near Ruisui Township in Hualien…
  • 1963 Su-ao earthquake — The earthquake occurred off the coast of Yilan County on 13 February 1963. Records of the year note injuries and deaths, without a figure f…
  • 1959 Hengchun earthquake — The earthquake struck the southern tip of Taiwan at 16:57 CST on Saturday 15 August 1959, with an epicentre about 50 kilometres east-southe…
  • 1951 East Rift Valley earthquakes — The November shock was one of a series along the East Rift Valley recorded through 1951. An earlier earthquake in the same series struck at…
  • 1941 Chungpu earthquake — The earthquake struck western Taiwan on the local date of 17 December 1941. Contemporary records of the year list it at magnitude 7.1.
  • 1936 Hengchun earthquake — The shock was recorded on 22 August 1936, with the epicentre placed in the sea off Hengchun, at the southern end of Taiwan. Catalogues list…
  • 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung earthquake — The epicentre lay near Guandao Mountain in what is now Miaoli County, and the shaking affected an area of 315 square kilometres between sou…
  • 1920 Hualien earthquake — The shock struck offshore of Hualien County, then part of the Empire of Japan, on 5 June 1920. The USGS ShakeMap shows every part of the is…

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