Mondo Taiwan - 9/21/99 Earthquake and Aftershocks

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MONDO EARTHQUAKE Last update: Sunday, 12/27/2003, 12:02 AM Taiwan time

NOTE: Because the Central Weather Bureau changes their links so often, it is unlikely that any of the "View data here" links on this page will work. It is equally unlikely that I will be able to fix these broken links one by one. Sorry about that! However, you might be able to locate the reports for yourself here by simply using the dropdown menus in the top frame of that page to choose the year and month, then following the links below the seismicity map which should appear in the bottom frame.

At 1:47 AM on the morning of September 21, 1999, an earthquake measuring--by various reports--between 7.3 and 7.6 struck Taiwan. It lasted 101 seconds, striking when most people were sound asleep. I was awake, but the power went out shortly after the shaking began. I've felt earthquakes before, but this was beyond my wildest imagination. A friend of mine had been in Athens during a recent large earthquake there, and he wrote mail to me describing his experience, but reading about it and experiencing one personally were two entirely different things.

It was quite surreal--the movement was more exaggerated than the special effects in any movie about an earthquake I've ever seen. I could only hold on to the door frame and scream. I imagined that the 7-story building would come crashing down on me at any moment. I still don't know how it managed to remain standing. The room seemed to be moving back and forth a whole foot in front of my eyes before the lights went out. The building also seemed to move up and down and in a circular motion at the same time. When it stopped, I called out to my neighbor in the next apartment to see if he was okay. I brought him a candle, as our emergency lights failed to do their job, and we quickly got our things and headed outside where we spent the whole night in the street with hundreds of our neighbors listening to the radio reports and being frightened by many strong aftershocks.

While Taiwan's geographical center is said to have shifted by 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) as a result of the quake, Taichung County's Tungshih Township is said to have moved northwest by an incredible 8.5 meters (about 28 feet). Hoping Township--also in Taichung County--moved 5.5 meters (18 feet) northwest, and Nantou County's Tahu Mountain was said to have moved 5 meters (16.5 feet) in the same direction. Even Yushan (known to English speakers as Jade Mountain), which is Taiwan's highest peak at 3,798 meters, is said to have moved 44 centimeters (17 inches) west-northwest according to Ministry of the Interior official Chang Yuan-hsu. Other reports claimed its height had increased by 28 meters, but this has been both contradicted (according to the 10/21 China Post, not online) and confirmed by various later reports.

The quake was powerful enough to topple buildings 120 miles from the epicenter. Around 6,100 buildings--some having as many as 100 apartments within--were rendered uninhabitable by the quake. The destruction was not limited to land and buildings. Over 2,400 people were killed, more than 11,000 injured, and another 100,000 or more lost their homes.

I was one of the fortunate ones. Although I live in an area that felt nearly the strongest part of the quake, I escaped all physical damage. This portion of my certainly-not-in-it-for-the-money website has been my way of doing something helpful. I have attempted to provide useful information to those with loved ones in areas affected by the quake.
Taiwan Central Weather Bureau's daily earthquake reports

A LIST OF NOTEWORTHY TREMORS SINCE 9/21/99
(Time, location, magnitude, depth, links
to more details, usually in GIF form)
The Taiwan Central Weather Bureau seems to take note of quakes with a magnitude or 4.0 or greater, but it occasionally reports smaller quakes. I have highlighted those with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater and those with other "unusual" information.

Sunday, October 10, 1999
6:45 AM, southwestern Nantou County, 4.1
7:39 PM, near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 4.6.
Monday, October 11, 1999
12:00 AM, near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 4.5.
Tuesday, October 12, 1999
3:10 AM, near the border of northeastern Nantou County and Hualien County, 4.7
7:56 PM, Miaoli County, 4.5
12:17 PM, eastern Taichung County, 4.7. View data here.
Wednesday, October 13, 1999
9:39 AM, northwestern Hualien County, 5.3.
Saturday, October 16, 1999
2:48 AM, 33.1 km west of Hualien, 4.7. View data here.
8:32 PM, 29 km west of Hualien, 4.9.
Sunday, October 17, 1999
2:18 AM, 12 km NNW of Yushan (Jade Mountain) in southern Nantou County, 4.4.
Monday, October 18, 1999
11:30 PM, Hualien County, 5.0.
Tuesday, October 19, 1999
12:00 AM, near Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, 5.5.
1:55 AM, 14.2 km NNE of Alishan, 5.0.
10:27 AM, central Nantou County, 4.5.
1:56 PM, 24.8 km SE of Nantou County's Sun Moon Lake, 4.8. View data here.
Wednesday, October 20, 1999
10:13 AM, 15.2 km NNE of Nantou County's Alishan, 4.4 View data here.
4:30 PM, 3.3 km SSW of Chiayi City, 4.1. The info on the CWB page is a little confusing on this one. See their GIF image of a map with this info for yourself here.
Thursday, October 21, 1999
3:28 AM, 25.1 km SE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.6. View data here.
8:30 AM, 18.3 km SSW of Taichung, 4.4. View data here.
Friday, October 22, 1999
I was rudely awakened by the building moving again. This quake occurred at:
10:19 AM, 2.5 km west-northwest of Chiayi 6.4! View data here.
10:27 AM, 5.2 km ESE of Chiayi, 5.1. View data here.
10:43 AM, 4 km east of Chiayi City, 4.9. View data here.

The Chinese-language TV stations are reporting this morning's seismic activity as the "Chiayi Earthquake," totally independent of the 9/21 Chi Chi quake. It looks like Chiayi lost power and received a bit of damage, including a fire at Chungcheng University. 80,000 households are without power, and over a dozen buildings have collapsed. There are also reports of 3 injuries, but no immediate reports of anything worse. Being that this morning's quake occurred in daylight hours, people were better prepared to get out of buildings, and there's a lot of live coverage. Of course, the media hounds are still sticking their microphones in crying children's faces and asking them if they were scared. Some were too frightened to even reply. Chiayi experienced another large quake (6.2, if I remember correctly) in July of 1998 which caused a lot of damage.

11:10 AM, 4.9 km NNE of Chiayi, 6.0. View data here.
11:19 AM, 4.9 km ESE of Chiayi, 4.1. View data here.
12:10 PM, 2.9 km ESE of Chiayi, 4.3. View data here.
1:04 PM, 5.4 km east of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
1:57 PM, 11.8 km ENE of Chiayi, 4.4. View data here.
2:19 PM, 6 km NE of Chiayi, 4.0. View data here.
2:31 PM, 6.5 km NE of Chiayi, 4.5. View data here.
3:00 PM, 6.2 km NE of Chiayi, 4.6. View data here.
4:34 PM, 4.9 km NE of Chiayi, 5.1. View data here.
4:38 PM, 8.7 km NE of Chiayi, 4.0. View data here.
5:12 PM, 5.7 km NE of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
5:14 PM, 2.6 km NE of Chiayi, 4.0. View data here.
7:52 PM, 3.4 km east of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
11:40 PM, 22.3 km SSE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.5. View data here.
Saturday, October 23, 1999
1:57 AM, 5 km NE of Chiayi, 5.3. View data here.
6:38 AM, 3.6 km SE of Chiayi, 4.1. View data here.
8:02 PM, 27.8 km (17 miles) ENE of Taichung (close to Fengyuan), 4.4. View data here.
11:58 PM, 5.5 km NE of Chiayi, 3.8. View data here.
Sunday, October 24, 1999
1:08 AM, 6.6 km east of Chiayi, 5.2. View data here.
2:29 AM, 5.7 km east of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
5:10 AM, 16.6 km SW of Alishan, 5.1. View data here.
5:53 AM, 5.3 km NE of Chiayi, 4.8. View data here.
6:06 AM, 17.1 km SW of Alishan, 4.8. View data here.
6:09 AM, 18.2 km SW of Alishan, 4.2. View data here.
6:35 AM, 7.6 km SW of Alishan, 4.7. View data here.
6:38 AM, 18.1 km SW of Alishan, 4.2. View data here.
10:39 AM, 24.1 km east of Sun Moon Lake, 4.9. View data here.
11:07 AM, 6.7 km east of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
Monday, October 25, 1999
8:39 PM, 15.9 km SW of Alishan, 4.1. View data here.
Wednesday, October 27, 1999
11:40 AM, 12.4 km NE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.4. View data here.
Thursday, October 28, 1999
10:44 AM, 7.5 km NE of Chiayi, 4.3. View data here.
4:56 PM, 17.6 km ENE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.7. View data here.
Saturday, October 30, 1999 - 6 tremors
11:39 AM, 11.1 km NE of Chiayi, 4.0. View data here.
3:02 PM, 33.1 km WNW of Hualien, 4.8. View data here.
3:32 PM, 30.1 km west of Hualien, 4.8. View data here.
4:27 PM, 31.6 km WNW of Hualien, 5.2. View data here.
4:30 PM, 32.3 km WNW of Hualien, 4.8. View data here.
11:01 PM, 31 km WNW of Hualien, 5.0. View data here.

Four of the afternoon quakes occurred within a period of 90 minutes.
Sunday, October 31, 1999
3:21 AM, 3.6 km SE of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
Monday, November 1, 1999
4:40 PM, 41.6 km northNNE (sic) of Hualien, 4.5. View data here.
Tuesday, November 2, 1999
1:53 AM, 45 km NE of Taitung County's Chengkung Township, 6.9, depth 30.4 km. View data here. This is the largest tremor since the 7.6 quake of 9/21.
12:55 PM, 15.5 km (~10 miles) SSE of Taichung, 4.5. View data here.
Thursday, November 4, 1999
5:34 AM, 27.9 km SW of Alishan, 5.0. View data here.
8:48 AM, 2 km east of Chiayi, 4.5. View data here.
7:06 PM, 45 km NNE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.3. View data here.
Friday, November 5, 1999
1:50 PM, 1 km WNW of Hualien, 4.3.
NOTE: The part about "Local largest intensity" on the CWB report says that the quake was felt with a magnitude of 5 in Hualien. I don't get it! I double-checked the CWB's info. View English data here or Chinese here.
Saturday, November 6, 1999
12:21 PM today, 26.4 km southSSW (sic) of Yushan (Jade Mountain), 4.6. View data here.
Sunday, November 7, 1999
7:51 AM, 4.6 km NNE of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
Monday, November 8, 1999
5:50 PM, 2 km NW of Chiayi, 3.8. View data in English here or in Chinese here.
Tuesday, November 9, 1999
5:16 AM, 8.8 km northNNE (sic) of Alishan, 4.4. View data here.
Wednesday, November 10, 1999
8:30 AM, 14.3 km SSW of Taichung, 4.7. View data here.
Thursday, November 11, 1999
7:32 AM, 17.8 km NNE of Sun Moon Lake, 4.3. View data here.
11:25 PM, 34 km ENE of Tainan, 4.5. View data here.
Friday, November 12, 1999
9:09 AM, 5.2 km ENE of Chiayi, 4.9. View data here.
8:25 PM, 2.2 km NNE of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
Saturday, November 13, 1999
8:18 PM, 16 km SW of Taichung, 4.6. View data here.
Monday, November 15, 1999
3:25 PM, 8.8 km east of Chiayi, 5.2. View data here.
3:36 PM, 10.5 km east of Chiayi, 4.6. View data here.
6:56 PM, 8.9 km east of Chiayi, 4.6. View data here.
7:40 PM, 6.2 km east of Chiayi, 4.2. View data here.
Tuesday, November 16, 1999, 3:42 PM
2:10 AM, 4.2 km NE of Chiayi, 4.9. View data here.
3:56 AM, 6.5 km ESE of Chiayi, 4.3. View data here.
1:18 PM, 9 km east of Chiayi, 4.6. View data here.
Wednesday, November 17, 1999
3:35 PM, 14.8 km SSW of Taichung, 5.2. View data here.
11:59 PM, 17.9 km SSE of Taichung, 3.7. View data here.
Thursday, November 18, 1999
12:45 AM, 7 km east of Chiayi, 4.1. View data here.

Friday, November 19, 1999
2:25 PM, 12.5 km SSW of Taichung, 4.3. View data here.
6:14 PM, 5.6 km NE of Chiayi, 4.1. View data here.
Saturday, November 20, 1999
11:29 AM, 14.6 km SSW of Taichung, 4.7. View data here.
Monday, November 22, 1999
1:35 AM, 14.5 km southSSW (sic) of Taichung, magnitude 4.1, depth 13.6 km. View data here.
Tuesday, November 23, 1999
6:47 AM, 4.5 km NE of Chiayi, 4.3. View data here.
12:13 PM, 1.5 km east of Chiayi, 4.1. View data here.
Sunday, November 28, 1999
4:36 AM, 22.5 km southSSW (sic) of Taichung, 4.2, depth 9.5 km. View data here.
Monday, November 29, 1999
12:07 AM, 10.8 km east of Chiayi, 4.5, depth 6 km. View data here.
4:42 AM, 18.7 km SSW of Yushan, magnitude 5, depth 2.5 km. View data here.
5:25 AM, 18.3 km SSW of Yushan, magnitude 5.1, depth 2.5 km. View data here.
7:45 AM, 32.2 km southSSW (sic) of Chupei (northern Hsinchu County), magnitude 4.5, depth 1.1 km. View data here.

Tuesday, November 30, 1999
1:54 AM, 18.7 km NNW of Alishan, magnitude 4.8, depth 9.3 km. View data here.
Thursday, December 2, 1999
1:06 AM, 0.9 km NE of Chiayi, magnitude 4.6, depth 10.9 km. View data here.
Saturday, December 4, 1999
11:49 AM, 1 km ESE of Chiayi, magnitude 3.8., depth 12.2 km. View data here.

Something is a little fishy with the info related to this quake. First, it's smaller than the 4.0 or greater normally reported. Second, the info about "local largest intensity" says Chiayi felt it as a 4.

7:43 PM, 2.4 km SSE of Chiayi, magnitude 4.1, depth 12.7 km. View data here.
10:57 PM, 6.2 km east of Chiayi, magnitude 4.5, depth 7.6 km. View data here.
Tuesday, December 7, 1999
2:14 AM, 26.5 km east of Ilan, magnitude 5, depth 101.1 km. View data here.
Wednesday, December 8, 1999
5:22 AM, 37.9 km ENE of Tainan, magnitude 4.4, depth 15.9 km. View data here.
Thursday, December 9, 1999
12:01 AM, 23.5 km SSW of Ilan, magnitude 4.9, depth 42.6 km. View data here.
Sunday, December 19, 1999
7:54 PM, 44.6 km NE of Sun Moon Lake, magnitude 4.5, depth 10.7 km. View data here.
Tuesday, December 21, 1999
11:13 PM, 18.3 km southSSW (sic) of Taichung, magnitude 4.2, depth 13.1 km. View data here.
Saturday, December 25, 1999
2:14 AM, 40.3 km east of Yushan (Jade Mountain), magnitude 4.8, depth 20 km. View data here.
8:15 AM, 10.3 km east of Chiayi, magnitude 4.5, depth 1 km. View data here.
Sunday, December 26, 1999
12:09 AM, 6.2 km NNE of Alishan, magnitude 4.3, depth 13.6 km. View data here.
Monday, December 27, 1999
1:51 AM, 8.2 km northNNE (sic) of Alishan, magnitude 4.4, depth 17.4 km. View data here.
Earlier quake news: Complete news from 10/25 - 11/7 Complete news from 10/18 - 10/24 Complete news from 10/11 - 10/17 Complete news from 10/4 - 10/10 Complete news from 9/27 - 10/3 Complete news from 9/22 - 9/26

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