Earthquakes in Taiwan through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 270 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Taiwan. 33 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.2 on June 5, 1920 (1920 Hualien, Taiwan Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.6 on September 28 (35 km SSE of Hualien City, Taiwan).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on May 22, 1782 (Tainan), for which NOAA records 40,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 101 here, back to 1661. NOAA records deaths in 71 of the events here, 57,735 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on December 27, 2025 (29 km ESE of Yilan, Taiwan). NOAA’s record here begins on January 8, 1661 with an earthquake (Tainan). It grows thinner going back: 65 of the 101 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 20 tsunamis that began in or off Taiwan. The highest water NOAA records here was 30 m, in April 1781. The deadliest, on December 18, 1867, killed 80 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off Taiwan. The largest was Unnamed on October 29, 1853, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index.
The events
- December 27, 2025Earthquake · M 6.629 km ESE of Yilan, Taiwan · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 20, 1999Earthquake · M 7.721 km S of Puli, Taiwan · 2,297 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 24, 1951Earthquake · M 7.8TaiwanUSGS
- July 16, 1935Earthquake · M 6.5Xiinzhu · 2,746 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 20, 1935Earthquake · M 7.114 km N of Taichung, Taiwan · 3,276 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 1, 1922Earthquake · M 7.750 km SSE of Yilan, Taiwan · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 5, 1920Earthquake · M 8.21920 Hualien, Taiwan Earthquake · 5 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 12, 1910Earthquake · M 7.860 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 18, 1867Tsunami · 15 m hereE. China Sea · 80 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 29, 1853Eruption · VEI 2UnnamedNOAA NCEI
- May 22, 1782EarthquakeTainan · 40,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- April 1781Tsunami · 30 m hereKaohsiung · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- January 8, 1661Earthquake · M 6.0 (est.)TainanNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Taiwan when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Taiwan is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Taiwan, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history