Earthquakes and Typhoons
News and Information
Typhoons
(Nothing here yet.)
Earthquakes
What to do in an emergency
If you are inside, stay inside.
- Drop under heavy furniture such as a table, desk, bed or any solid furniture.
- Cover your head and torso to prevent being hit by falling objects.
- Hold on to the object that you are under so that you remain covered.
- AVOID the following in an earthquake
- Doorways. Doors may slam shut and cause injuries.
- Windows, bookcases, tall furniture and light fixtures. You could be hurt by shattered glass or heavy objects.
- Elevators. If you are in an elevator during an earthquake, hit the button for every floor and get out as soon as you can.
- See link for more, including how to prepare ahead of time.
Why Taiwan’s earthquake preparedness is among the most advanced in the world
For example, thousands of public buildings — 4,600 of which were damaged in the 1999 earthquake — were reviewed and strengthened if they had been built before 1997. Since then, several other programs of strengthening and remediation, including to school buildings and private buildings, have been undertaken.
“Taiwan has had very high standards of building for a very long time,” said Rowe. “And so these earthquakes, even if, you know, they were (damaged) in the past, it’s nothing compared to what another country would have suffered in the same earthquake.”
What is the frequency of earthquake occurrence in Taiwan?
Since Taiwan is located on the circum-Pacific seismic zone [aka the "ring of fire'], earthquake occurrence is quite frequent, and strong earthquakes occur quite often as well. According to the Central Weather Administration's earthquake monitoring information between 1900~1990, the average number of earthquakes in Taiwan is approximately 2,200 per year, of which, approximately 214 can be felt. After the major renewal of the CWB Seismic Network in 1991, the ability of earthquake detection improved drastically. The annual average number of earthquakes recorded from 1991 to 2004 increased to 18,649 (monthly average was approximately 1,554), of which approximately 1,047 were felt. In 1999, Taiwan had the highest number of earthquakes, mainly due to the influence of the Jiji (Chi-Chi) earthquake; there were 49,919 earthquakes, including 3,003 quakes felt. Based on the statistical analysis of catastrophic earthquake information, there have been 96 catastrophic earthquakes since 1900. (source)
Why do so many earthquakes happen in Hualien, specifically?
When an earthquake happens, we want to know which fault (or faults) ruptured. Sometimes, it is really obvious because there is only one fault in the region.
That is not the case in Taiwan.
How exactly those two subduction zones end at Taiwan, and how other faults are accommodating the relative motion between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, is extremely complicated. The entire country is essentially a zone of active collision and uplift. One large fault system dips eastward beneath the high mountain chain - this is the fault system that produced the 1999 earthquake. The recent M7.4 occurred instead to the east, on a fault within a complicated wedge system, where the Philippine Sea Plate is shouldering its way into and past the accretionary wedge, but not subducting beneath it.
