The 1946 Hsinhua earthquake (), also referred to as the 1946 Tainan earthquake () was a magnitude 6.1

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

which hit

Tainan County Tainan County was a county in southern Taiwan between 1945 and 2010. The county seat was in Sinying City. History Tainan County was established on 7 January 1946 on the territory of Tainan Prefecture () shortly after the end of World War II ...

(now part of

Tainan City Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of hist ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, on 5 December 1946, at 06:47. The quake claimed 74 lives and was the eighth deadliest earthquake in twentieth century Taiwan.

Earthquake

The 6.1 M_L earthquake struck at 06:47 CST on Thursday 5 December 1946, as people in the area were waking up and preparing breakfast. The

epicentre The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

was in Hsinhua in the centre of

at a relatively shallow depth of ; the rupture responsible was the Hsinhua fault (). Government geologists in Taiwan believe this fault may have been active a number of times during the (current)

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

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

Damage

According to Taiwan's

Central Weather Bureau The Central Weather Bureau (CWB; ) is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the Republic of China (Taiwan). In addition to meteorology, the Central Weather Bureau also makes astronomical observations, reports on se ...

, 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.

Soil liquefaction Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in ...

and

sand boil Sand boils or sand volcanoes occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is boiling up from the bed of sand, hence the name. Sand volcano A sand volcano or sand blow is a cone of sand formed by the ...

s were observed in central Tainan County, and there was widespread damage to railways, roads, farmland, water pipes and bridges. 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.

References

External links

* {{Earthquakes in Taiwan Hsinhua Earthquake, 1946 Hsinhua History of Tainan Earthquakes in Taiwan

Earthquake

Damage

See also

References

External links