1904 Douliu earthquake

Technical details

At 04:25 of the morning of 6 November 1904, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake centred on the town of Xingang, Chiayi County, shook towns in present-day Yunlin County, Chiayi County, and Tainan City. Despite the relatively light magnitude, the shallow depth of the temblor (7 km) coupled with the fact that it struck in a populated area meant that casualties were heavier than might be expected.

The earthquake was one of the first major quakes in Taiwan to be monitored using seismographs that were introduced by the Japanese. This enabled government officials to pinpoint the magnitude, epicentre and hypocentre of the earthquake with more accuracy than ever before.

The quake was felt throughout the island, and Japanese officials recorded sandblasting and soil liquefaction at several sites in the affected area.

Damage

According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, there were 145 deaths, with 50 people seriously injured and 107 people less seriously injured. As a result of the quake 590 dwellings were completely destroyed, while a further 1,085 dwellings were partially destroyed. The cost of damage was assessed at the time as ¥105,155 (1904 Japanese yen). The worst affected area was (Xingang, Chiayi), where 85 of the deaths occurred.

References

References

1. 中央氣象局. "台灣地區十大災害地震圖集 (A Collection of Images of Ten Great Earthquake Disasters in the Taiwan Region)". Central Weather Bureau.