Reviewed by USGSTaiwan122y ago
M6.9 earthquake 10 km NE of Pizitou, Taiwan
Friday, March 16, 1906, 22:42:25 UTC · 23.560°N, 120.510°E
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 10 km NE of Pizitou, Taiwan on Friday, March 16, 1906, 22:42:25 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.9
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 10 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- —
- No ShakeMap
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
326 kilotons of TNT
That is about 22 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 684 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
6 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Philippine Sea and Yangtze plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
10 km
Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.
Did You Feel It?
Where it was felt
No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.
I felt it — report to USGS ↗USGS PAGER estimate
Who was exposed to shaking
USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.
After the main event
Aftershocks within 100 km
USGS lists 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M7.0 on April 13, 1906. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 23 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 48,218 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1782
Tainan
22 May 1782 · 105 km away
40,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1721
Tainan
1721 · 70 km away
2,000 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1862M6.5
Tainan
6 Jun 1862 · 55 km away · intensity VIII
2,000 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1906M6.8
Jiayi
16 Mar 1906 · 5 km away
1,258 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)
- 1848M6.8
Zhanghua
3 Dec 1848 · 60 km away · intensity IX
1,001 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)
- 1867M7.0
Chilung (Keelung)
18 Dec 1867 · 243 km away
580 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.