Reviewed by USGS118y ago
M8.1 earthquake 1910 Taiwan Earthquake
Tuesday, April 12, 1910, 00:22:24 UTC · 25.967°N, 124.304°E
A magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck 1910 Taiwan Earthquake on Tuesday, April 12, 1910, 00:22:24 UTC, at a depth of 235.0 km (intermediate). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 8.1
- Great · mw
- Depth
- 235 km
- Intermediate
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- VI
- Strong (ShakeMap)
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
21 megatons of TNT
That is about 1,415 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 44,668 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
67 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Yangtze and Okinawa plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: intermediate
235 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 400 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 400 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 1 M5.0+ earthquake within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 4 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 14,182 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1771M7.4
Ryukyu Islands
24 Apr 1771 · 219 km away
13,486 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1867M7.0
Chilung (Keelung)
18 Dec 1867 · 250 km away
580 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1910M7.8
Taiwan
12 Apr 1910 · 188 km away
60 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
- 1897M6.0
Yilan
19 Mar 1897 · 288 km away · intensity VIII
56 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.