Taiwan Earthquakes

No M1.5+ Taiwan earthquakes have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

Reading Taiwan’s Latest Earthquakes Map

Taiwan is one of the world’s most closely watched earthquake regions. Shaking occurs beneath the island, along active faults running through its mountains and valleys, and offshore where two major tectonic plates meet. Many earthquakes are small, but damaging shallow earthquakes and widely felt deeper events are both possible.

This page displays the latest available Taiwan earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 and above. The earthquake list, interactive map and statistics update when the page loads or is refreshed. Times in the earthquake list are shown in UTC.

Each coloured circle marks a reported earthquake location. Select a marker to view its magnitude, depth, location and UTC time. Use the map controls to compare earthquakes recorded during the last hour, 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days. For earthquakes beyond this map, visit the Asia earthquakes page or the latest earthquakes worldwide.

Taiwan earthquakes (map loads with JavaScript).

Map area: This page covers Taiwan and nearby waters, including the Taiwan Strait, Penghu, Green Island and Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island. It includes earthquakes described as being near Taiwan, offshore Taiwan or close to places such as Taipei, Hualien, Taitung, Yilan, Nantou, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. Events assigned to Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands, Luzon and the Philippines, mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Guam or the Mariana Islands are excluded.

An Island Being Built by Collision

Taiwan exists because the Philippine Sea Plate is converging with the Eurasian Plate. This is not a single, simple boundary. Northeast of Taiwan, the Philippine Sea Plate descends beneath the Eurasian Plate along the Ryukyu subduction system. South of the island, the direction reverses and the Eurasian Plate descends beneath the Philippine Sea Plate along the Manila system.

Between those subduction zones, the Luzon volcanic arc collides with the continental margin. Crust is shortened, folded and thrust upward, building Taiwan’s exceptionally steep mountain ranges. The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences describes the deformation as a distributed collision rather than movement confined to one narrow fault.

This collision explains why Taiwan can experience earthquakes in several contrasting settings: shallow ruptures within the island, earthquakes beneath the eastern mountain belt, offshore thrust earthquakes and much deeper events within descending plate material northeast of Taiwan.

Where the Plate Boundary Comes Ashore

The Longitudinal Valley running through eastern Taiwan is more than a scenic valley. It marks the collision zone between the Luzon volcanic arc of the Coastal Range and the deformed continental margin farther west. The valley’s fault system includes the Chihshang and related fault segments, some of which move through both earthquakes and gradual fault creep.

The Caltech Taiwan tectonics project identifies the Longitudinal Valley as the suture between the Luzon arc and the Chinese continental margin. This helps explain the concentration of earthquakes around Hualien and Taitung and why deformation can be measured directly across the valley.

• Longitudinal Valley Fault system: An exceptionally active eastern fault zone extending through Hualien and Taitung counties.
• Milun Fault: A fault beneath and near Hualien City that ruptured during the destructive 1951 earthquake sequence and again during the 2018 Hualien earthquake.
• Chelungpu Fault: The central Taiwan thrust fault that produced the surface rupture of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake.
• Meishan and Hsinhua faults: Important shallow earthquake sources in southwestern Taiwan, where densely populated plains meet the island’s fold-and-thrust belt.
• Ryukyu subduction zone: The offshore system northeast of Taiwan capable of producing both shallow and deep earthquakes.
• Hengchun offshore region: A complicated southern transition toward the Manila Trench, responsible for earthquakes near Taiwan’s southern tip.

Why a Deep Earthquake Can Shake Half the Island

Depth changes how an earthquake is experienced. A shallow earthquake releases its energy close to the surface and can cause severe local shaking even when its magnitude is only moderate. It is also more likely to trigger surface faulting, rockfalls, landslides or liquefaction near the epicentre.

A deeper earthquake begins farther from every place at the surface. This usually reduces the most intense shaking directly above it, but seismic waves can travel efficiently through the descending plate and be felt across much of Taiwan. Offshore Yilan and northeastern Taiwan are especially notable for earthquakes at a wide range of depths within and around the Ryukyu subduction system.

Depth estimates are often revised after an earthquake because they are more difficult to calculate than the epicentre’s horizontal position. A modest change in reported depth does not mean that a second earthquake occurred; it can reflect additional station data and an improved model of the crust.

Why Taipei Sometimes Sways More Than the Map Suggests

Taipei lies within a sediment-filled basin rather than directly on hard bedrock. Some seismic waves slow down, grow in amplitude or persist longer as they enter the basin. This means an earthquake near Hualien, Yilan or offshore northeastern Taiwan may produce unexpectedly noticeable swaying in Taipei even when the capital is far from the epicentre.

The CWA’s explanation of the Taipei Basin effect notes that thick layers of comparatively weak soil can magnify certain seismic waves. The effect is not uniform: neighbouring districts can record different shaking because sediment depth, bedrock shape and building characteristics vary across the basin.

Soft, water-saturated ground introduces a different danger. Strong shaking can increase water pressure between soil grains until the ground temporarily loses strength, a process called liquefaction. Taipei City publishes liquefaction-potential maps as screening tools, but the behaviour of an individual property still depends on site-specific soil, groundwater and foundation conditions.

When the Mountain Moves After the Fault

In eastern Taiwan, the earthquake itself may be only the beginning of the emergency. Hualien’s steep slopes, fractured rock and narrow transport corridors create a serious rockfall and landslide hazard. Roads through Taroko Gorge and along the east coast can be cut in several places at once, leaving communities, travellers and rescue teams separated by unstable slopes.

The April 2024 Hualien earthquake demonstrated this compound risk. Strong shaking triggered thousands of slope failures across eastern Taiwan. A peer-reviewed Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences study used satellite imagery and automated mapping to identify more than 7,000 landslide features over an area exceeding 75 square kilometres.

Aftershocks can dislodge rock already weakened by the main earthquake. Heavy rain and typhoons may reactivate the same slopes months or years later, so the effects of a major earthquake can continue long after visible shaking has stopped.

Taiwan’s Most Significant Quakes

2025 Tainan–Chiayi Earthquake

A shallow earthquake struck southern Taiwan shortly after midnight on 21 January 2025. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration measured it at magnitude 6.4, while international calculations were slightly lower. Dozens of people were injured, homes were damaged or collapsed, and damage was reported to a highway bridge and other infrastructure around Tainan and Chiayi.

The earthquake and its continuing aftershocks demonstrated that Taiwan’s damaging earthquakes are not confined to the more visibly active eastern coast. The Associated Press reported on the injuries, rescues and structural damage.

2024 Hualien Earthquake

On 3 April 2024, Taiwan experienced its strongest earthquake since the 1999 Chi-Chi disaster. Taiwan’s authorities measured the earthquake at local magnitude 7.2, while its moment magnitude was calculated at 7.4. Eighteen people died, more than 1,100 were injured, and landslides and rockfalls caused severe disruption around Hualien and Taroko Gorge.

Despite the strength of the shaking, modern construction standards, public education and Taiwan’s emergency systems limited the destruction across much of the island. The contrast with earlier disasters demonstrated how significantly Taiwan’s earthquake resilience had improved since 1999. The Center for Disaster Philanthropy provides an updated account of the earthquake and its effects.

1999 — The 921 Chi-Chi Earthquake

The September 21, 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake ruptured the Chelungpu Fault through central Taiwan. The thrust rupture broke the ground surface, displaced roads and riverbeds, damaged infrastructure and caused catastrophic building losses. It became a defining event for Taiwan’s earthquake engineering, public education and disaster planning.

Part of the rupture crossed the grounds of Kuang-Fu Junior High School in Wufeng. The damaged buildings and displaced ground were preserved as the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan, where visitors can see the fault’s physical effects rather than only reading about them.

1951 — The Longitudinal Valley Sequence

A destructive sequence of large earthquakes struck eastern Taiwan between October and December 1951. Ruptures affected sections of the Longitudinal Valley fault system and the Milun Fault near Hualien. The sequence remains an important reminder that damaging earthquakes can migrate between neighbouring fault segments rather than ending with a single mainshock.

1935 — The Hsinchu–Taichung Earthquake

This shallow magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck north-central Taiwan and produced surface rupture on the Shitan and Tuntzuchiao faults. It became the deadliest earthquake in Taiwan’s recorded history. The event is particularly important because it occurred on the more densely populated western side of the island rather than along the frequently active east coast.

1906 — The Meishan Earthquake

The magnitude 7.1 Meishan earthquake ruptured a shallow fault through the Chiayi area and caused severe destruction. Together, the 1906 and 1935 disasters demonstrate that western Taiwan’s lower earthquake frequency does not mean low risk. Dates, magnitudes and documented effects for these earthquakes can be compared in the CWA’s historical disastrous-earthquake record.

Magnitude 7.0 or 6.6? Both May Describe the Same Earthquake

Earthquake magnitudes published by different agencies do not always match. Taiwan’s CWA commonly reports local magnitude, written as M_L, using data from its dense regional network. International agencies often publish moment magnitude, M_w, which is calculated from the physical size and slip of the rupture and is especially useful for comparing large earthquakes worldwide.

The December 27, 2025 earthquake off northeastern Taiwan is a useful example. The CWA reported local magnitude 7.0, while international reporting described the same event as magnitude 6.6. Neither figure necessarily represents an error; they result from different magnitude scales, station networks and calculation methods.

Magnitude also should not be confused with intensity. Magnitude assigns one size to the earthquake. Intensity describes the shaking recorded or experienced at a particular place, so the same earthquake can produce Level 4 intensity in one county and Level 2 in another. Taiwan’s scale runs from 0 to 7, with Levels 5 and 6 divided into lower and upper categories.

How Taiwan Hears an Earthquake Begin

Taiwan’s monitoring system combines short-period, strong-motion, broadband, downhole and ocean-bottom instruments. The Central Weather Administration Seismographic Network locates earthquakes, calculates magnitudes and measures how strongly different communities shake. Strong-motion instruments are particularly important for engineering because they record the forces that buildings, bridges and other structures experience.

Earthquake early warning does not predict an earthquake before it starts. Instruments first detect the relatively fast initial seismic waves. A computer then estimates the earthquake’s location and size and can send alerts toward places where stronger waves have not yet arrived. Areas close to the source may receive only a few seconds of warning—or none at all.

The process must balance speed against accuracy. An estimate issued within seconds uses incomplete information and can underestimate a large rupture that is still growing. Research prompted by the 2024 Hualien earthquake has examined how rapidly changing magnitude estimates affect which areas receive warnings. The challenge is described in a 2025 Scientific Reports study of Taiwan’s early-warning calculations.

A Tsunami Can Approach From Near or Far

Taiwan’s offshore plate boundaries can generate tsunamis when an earthquake produces sufficient vertical movement of the seabed. The east and northeast coasts face nearby sources along the Ryukyu system, while southern Taiwan lies closer to the Manila subduction zone. Taiwan can also receive waves generated by much more distant earthquakes elsewhere in the Pacific.

Magnitude alone does not determine tsunami danger. Location, depth, faulting style and seafloor displacement all matter. A large earthquake dominated by sideways movement may generate little tsunami, while a thrust earthquake that lifts the seabed can displace a much greater volume of water.

The CWA publishes official tsunami information for Taiwan. Anyone on the coast who experiences strong or prolonged shaking should not wait for a map to update before acting. Move inland or to higher ground and follow local evacuation instructions. Waves can arrive more than once, so do not return until authorities cancel the warning.

Living With Frequent Shaking

Frequent earthquakes can make moderate shaking feel routine, but familiarity does not identify whether a particular event will remain small. After strong shaking, expect aftershocks, avoid visibly damaged structures and watch for falling masonry, broken glass, gas leaks and blocked mountain roads.

During an earthquake, Drop, Cover and Hold On. Stay away from windows and tall unsecured furniture. Do not run outdoors while objects may be falling from buildings. If you are already outside, move away from walls, signs, power lines and building façades.

In mountainous areas, move away from cliffs and freshly fallen rock when it is safe to do so. Near the coast, strong or prolonged shaking may be a natural tsunami warning. The CWA earthquake precautions explain Taiwan’s official intensity levels and recommended protective actions.

For practical preparation, read our earthquake safety guide, earthquake preparedness checklist and explanation of the earthquake magnitude scale.

🗺️ Related Earthquake Maps

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China Earthquakes | Japan Earthquakes | Philippines Earthquakes

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Indonesia Earthquakes | Kamchatka and Kuril Islands Earthquakes | Asia Earthquakes