Earthquakes in Taiwan, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 222 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Taiwan. 24 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.8 on November 24, 1951 (Taiwan).
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: a magnitude 7.1 on April 20, 1935 (14 km N of Taichung, Taiwan), for which NOAA records 3,276 deaths. 65 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 44 of the events here, 9,198 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.6 on December 27, 2025 (29 km ESE of Yilan, Taiwan). NOAA lists 13 tsunamis that began in or off Taiwan. The highest water NOAA records here was 1 m, on April 2, 2024.
The events
- December 27, 2025Earthquake · M 6.629 km ESE of Yilan, Taiwan · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- April 2, 2024Tsunami · 1 m hereE. Taiwan-Ryukyu IslandsNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 20, 1999Earthquake · M 7.721 km S of Puli, Taiwan · 2,297 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 23, 1978Earthquake · M 7.485 km ENE of Hengchun, TaiwanUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- March 12, 1966Earthquake · M 7.538 km SW of Yonakuni, Japan · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 24, 1951Earthquake · M 7.8TaiwanUSGS
- October 21, 1951Earthquake · M 7.558 km SSW of Hualien City, TaiwanUSGS
- 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
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