1946 Hsinhua earthquake

The 1946 Hsinhua earthquake (Chinese: 1946年新化大地震; pinyin: 1946 nián Xīnhuà dà dìzhèn), also referred to as the 1946 Tainan earthquake (Chinese: 1946年台南大地震; pinyin: 1946 nián Táinán dà dìzhèn) was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake which hit Tainan County (now part of Tainan City), Taiwan, on 5 December 1946, at 06:47. The quake claimed 74 lives and was the eighth deadliest earthquake in twentieth century Taiwan.

1946 Hsinhua earthquake
1946 Hsinhua earthquake is located in Taiwan
1946 Hsinhua earthquake
UTC time1946-12-04 22:46:53
ISC event898682
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateDecember 5, 1946 (1946-12-05)
Local time06:47
Magnitude6.1 ML
Depth5 km (3.1 mi)
Epicenter23.1°N 120.3°E / 23.1; 120.3
Areas affectedTaiwan, Republic of China
Max. intensityIX (Violent) [1]
Casualties74 dead

Earthquake

The 6.1 ML earthquake struck at 06:47 CST on Thursday 5 December 1946, as people in the area were waking up and preparing breakfast. The epicentre was in Hsinhua in the centre of Tainan County at a relatively shallow depth of 5 kilometres (3 mi); the rupture responsible was the Hsinhua fault (Chinese: 新化斷層; pinyin: Xīnhuà duàncéng). Government geologists in Taiwan believe this fault may have been active a number of times during the (current) Holocene era.[2] There was one major aftershock, on December 17, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale but caused no additional casualties.[3]

Damage

According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, there were 74 people killed by the quake, with 200 people seriously injured and 274 lightly injured. 1,971 dwellings were completely destroyed, while a further 2,084 dwellings were partially destroyed.[3] Soil liquefaction and sand boils were observed in central Tainan County, and there was widespread damage to railways, roads, farmland, water pipes and bridges.[3] As the disaster came just a year into the new Kuomintang rule in Taiwan, it served as a test for the new government. It was the most serious earthquake in Tainan County in 84 years.[4][5]

See also

References
  1. "Significant Earthquake Information". earthquake.usgs.gov. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  2. "Earthquake Geologic Investigation And Data Bank Compilation On Active Faults". Central Geological Survey, Ministry of Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 2009-07-11. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. 中央氣象局. "Preface". 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) (PDF) (in Chinese). Central Weather Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  4. "二十世紀前(1604–1900)台灣地區的地震記載". Central Weather Bureau. Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  5. 二十世紀(1901–2000)台灣地區災害性地震 (in Chinese). Central Weather Bureau. Archived from the original on 2004-10-17. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
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