Jump to Main content area

手機導覽

FAQ for Earthquake


14. What is the distribution of seismic zone in Taiwan?

There are three major seismic belts in Taiwan: (see the illustration)

(1) The west seismic belt: It starts from the south of Taipei, passing Taichung, Chiayi to Tainan, with a width about 80 kilometers and parallel to the island axis. The frequency of earthquakes on this belt is low, but the aftershocks are more frequent with shorter duration. The scope is quite general and the disaster situation is severe. This is due to the fact that the hypocenter is shallower (approximately 10 kilometers) and the Earth's crust changes dramatically.
(2) The east seismic belt: The northern end of this belt starts from the seabed off the northeast of Yilan. It extends south-southwestward, passing Hualien, Chenggong to Taitung, and down to Luzon Island. The northernmost part of this belt extending from Yilan, links with the circum-Pacific seismic zone to the western Pacific Ocean seabed; the southern tip of the belt is almost connected to the Philippine seismic belt. This belt faces the Pacific Ocean in an arc shape and also runs parallel to Taiwan, which extends 130 kilometers. This belt is characterized by frequent earthquake activities. Usually, the hypocenter is deeper than it's counterpart in the western area.
(3) The northeast seismic belt: This belt extends from Ryukyu Islands to the southwest, passing Hualien and Yilan, and reaches near upstream of the Lanyang River. This belt belongs to a shallow focal seismic zone.

What is the distribution of seismic zone in Taiwan?