Although the seismic activity in the west of Taiwan is not as frequent as in the east, earthquake damage is much more serious in the west due to the fact that most of the earthquakes in the west occur on land with shallow focal depths, and higher population density.

For example, a very strong earthquake happened in Hsinchu and Taichung in1935, the Chiayi Earthquake in 1964 and the Jiji (Chi-Chi) Earthquake in 1999, all of which caused serious disasters.