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
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
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.[1] There was one major aftershock, on December 17, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale but caused no additional casualties.[2]

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.[2] Soil liquefaction and sand boils were observed in central Tainan County, and there was widespread damage to railways, roads, farmland, water pipes and bridges.[2] 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.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. "Earthquake Geologic Investigation And Data Bank Compilation On Active Faults". Central Geological Survey, Ministry of Economic Affairs. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  2. 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 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  3. "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.
  4. 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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