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Taiwan Earthquake

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* Causes of Earthquakes in Taiwan
   Taiwan is located at the intersection of the Philippines Sea Plate and the Euraisian Plate, which are part of the circum-Pacific volcano and seismic zone. The Hualian-Taitung Valley is the boundary of these two plates. Over the years, the Philippines Sea Plate has moved to the north-west at the average velocity of 7 cm/year. The northern arc of Luzon Island, which is located in the west Philippines Sea Plate, collided with the edge of the Euraisian Plate 6 million years ago and elevated the Euraisuan Plate rapidly to form Taiwan’s Central Mountain Range. It’s like an extra large bulldozer, which is pushing the western Hualian-Taitung Valley and bending and arching the stratums, leading to even greater destruction and earthquakes.

Because the pushing force comes from the east, the faults in Taiwan are mainly trust faults. The crust of the eastern side of the faults is gradually moving upward and westward, and staking up on the western side. This is the basic background of Taiwan’s seismic activity.

* An Introduction to Taiwan’s Active Faults
  The research of the Central Geological Survey in 2010 shows Taiwan now has 33 active faults; whereas the research of National Central University says Taiwan has 51 active faults. The difference between these two institutes is the fault determining difference. National Central University treats some faults as individual faults while Central Geological Survey treats as one fault.

Surrounding these active faults is the heavy earthquake zone. You can learn more about the distribution of Taiwan’s faults at
http://fault.moeacgs.gov.tw/UploadFiles/images/500K/C_activefault(A4)_E.jpg
http://140.115.123.45/ncufault.htm

* The active faults in Taiwan can be classified as Type I Active Fault (AF1), Type II Active Fault
(AF2) and Suspected
Active Faults (AF3). The definitions of these active faults are as follows:http://140.115.123.45/ncufault.htm
Type II Active Faults (Late Pleistocene Active Faults)
* The fault has experienced displacement since the Holocene era (10,000 years ago)
* The fault displaced or crept modern structure
* The fault came with earthquakes.
* The fault displaced modern alluvium.
* Terrain monitoring proves the fault has creep activity.
Type II Active Faults (Late Pleistocene Active Faults)
* The fault has occurred displacement since Late Pleistocene era (100,000 years ago)
* The fault displaced terrace or tableland.
Suspected Active Faults (The existence, active age, re-active possibility of faults are suspected)
* The fault experienced displacement in the forth period stratum.
* The fault displaced the slow undulated laterite.
* The terrain showed the active fault's symbol but lacked of geological proven data.

* Heavy / Serious Earthquakes in Taiwan
  Taiwan experiences more than 200 perceivable earthquakes every year. The following is a list of the stronger quakes resulting in greater economic loss or human suffering.

No. Name Occurred Time North Latitude East Longitude Depth (KM) Scale Death All Destroyed House-holds
1 Doliau Earthquake 1904/11/06 04:25 23.575 120.250 7.0 6.1
2 Meishan Earthquake 1906/03/17 06:43 23.550 120.450 6.0 7.1
3 Nanto Earthquake Series 1916/08/28 15:27 24.000 121.025 45.0 6.8
1916/11/15 06:31 24.100 120.875 3.0 6.2
1917/01/05 00:55 24.000 120.975 shallow 6.2
1917/01/07 02:08 23.950 120.975 shallow 5.5
4 Hsinchu-Taichong Earthquake 1935/04/21 06:02 24.350 120.817 5.0 7.1
5 Chongpu Earthquake 1941/12/17 03:19 23.400 120.475 12.0 7.1
6 Hsinchu Earthquake 1946/12/05 06:47 23.070 120.330 5.0 6.1
7 Vertical Valley Earthquake Seried 1951/10/22 05:34 23.875 121.725 4.0 7.3
1951/10/22 11:29 24.075 121.725 1.0 7.1
1951/10/22 13:43 23.825 121.950 18.0 7.1
1951/11/25 02:47 23.100 121.225 16.0 6.1
1951/11/25 02:50 23.275 121.350 36.0 7.3
8 Henchun Earthquake 1959/08/15 16:57 21.700 121.300 20.0 7.1
9 Baihe Earthquake 1964/01/18 20:04 23.200 120.600 18.0 6.3
10 Hualian Earthquake 1986/11/15 05:20 23.992 121.833 15.0 6.8
11 Chichi Earthquake 1999/09/21 01:47 23.850 120.820 8.0 7.3 2,415 51,711
12 321 Earthquake 2002/03/21 14:52 24.24 122.17 9.6 6.8
13 Taitung Earthquake 2003/12/10 12:38 23.08 121.4 14.9 6.4 - 2
14 Yilan Earthquake 2004/10/23 15:20 24.4 121.8 9.3 3.8 - 1
15 Henchun Earthquake 2006/12/26 20:26 21.89 120.56 21.9 6.7 2 3
16 Nan'ao Earthquake 2007/09/07 20:26 24.28 122.25 54.0 6.6
17 Hengchun Earthquake 2008/06/01 09:57 19.45 121.1 41.9 6.4 - -
18 Xilin Earthquake 2009/10/04 01:36 23.65 121.58 29.2 6.1 - -
19 Mingjian Earthquake 2009/11/05 17:32 23.79 120.72 24.1 6.2 - -
20 Hualian Earthquake 2009/12/19 21:02 23.79 121.66 43.8 6.9 - -
21 Hualian Earthquake 2010/02/07 14:10 23.33 123.77 88.0 6.6 - -
22 Jiaxian Earthquake 2010/03/04 08:34 22.97 120.71 22.6 6.4 - 207
23 Hualien Earthquake 2010/03/27 07:07 24.1 121.68 58.9 5.2 - 1
24 Keelung Earthquake 2011/10/30 11:23 25.31 123.16 215.8 6.3 - -
25 Wutai Earthquake 2012/2/26 10:35 22.75 120.75 26.3 6.4 - -
26 EAST SEA Earthquake 2012/6/10 05:00 24.46 122.31 69.9 6.6 - -
27 Nanto Earthquake 2013/3/27 10:03 23.90 121.07 19.4 6.2 - -
28 Hualian Earthquake 2013/05/21 16:25 23.27 123.31 53.1 6.1 - -
29 Nanto Earthquake 2013/06/02 13:43 23.87 121.00 10 6.5 - -
30 Hualian Earthquake 2013/06/08 00:38 23.88 122.69 35.3 6.2 - -
31 Taitung Earthquake 2013/06/19 19:33 20.05 122.28 206.2 6.8 - -
32 Hualian Earthquake 2013/10/31 20:02 23.55 121.42 19.5 6.3 - -
33 East of Yilan Earthquake 2014/01/09 02:15 24.46 123.41 72.6 6.0 - -
34 Northeast of Keelung Earthquake 2014/12/11 05:03 25.45 122.61 268.6 6.7 - -
35 Southeast of Taitung Earthquake 2015/02/14 04:06 22.66 121.40 27.8 6.3 - -
36 Southeast of Hualien Earthquake 2015/03/23 18:13 23.7 121.76 26.3 6.0 - -
37 East of Hualien Earthquake 2015/04/20 09:42 24.05 122.37 17.5 6.3 - -
38 Meinong Earthquake 2016/02/06 03:57 22.92 120.54 14.6 6.6 116 247
39 Keelung Earthquake 2016/05/31 13:23 25.38 122.42 271.3 7.2 - -
40 Hualien Earthquake 2018/02/06 23:50 24.1 121.73 6.3 6.2 9 73
41 Hualien Earthquake 2019/04/18 13:01 24.14 121.69 10.0 6.0 - -
42 Yilan Earthquake 2020/12/10 21:19 24.74 122.03 76.7 6.7 - -
43 Yilan Earthquake 2021/10/24 13:11 24.53 121.79 66.8 6.5 - -
44 Hualien Earthquake 2022/03/23 01:41 23.4 121.61 25.7 6.7 - 1
45 Taitung Earthquake 2022/09/17 21:41 23.08 121.16 8.6 6.6 - 1
46 Hualien Earthquake 2024/04/03 07:58 23.86 121.58 22.5 7.2 18 280
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