On Saturday Evening a Significant M5.2 Earthquake struck 6mi from Taiwan.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 6th, 2024. Last updated May 2nd, 2024.

In the evening of Saturday April 6th, 2024, a significant MAG-5.2 earthquake hit 6 miles from Taiwan. Another nearby country is Japan.

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Earthquake Summary

This earthquake struck 6 miles (10 km) from Taiwan The center of this earthquake had a quite shallow depth of 34 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 6, 2024 18:47 (Taipei Time) - Apr 6, 2024 10:47 Universal Time.
Location:	15 km SSE of Hualien City, Hualien County, Taiwan. Coordinates 23°51'33"N 121°40'36"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 5.2 Detected by 30 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.057 .
Depth:	34 km (21 mi) A quite shallow depth.
Tsunami Risk:	Low tsunami risk Earthquakes under MAG-6.5 do not usually cause tsunami's. Always stay cautious - More info here.

Nearby towns and cities

Taiwan and Japan are both located within 300km distance of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Hualien City in Hualien County, Taiwan is the nearest significant place from the epicenter. The earthquake occurred 15 kilometer (9 mi) south-southeast of Hualien City.

Multiple major population centers exist within 300km of the earthquake that struck today. Taipei is located 133 km to the north. Hualien City is located 15 km to the north-northwest. Taichung is located 106 km to the west-northwest.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

Shaking reported by 3 people

People that feel an earthquake may report their experience to the US Geographic Survey. Currently, 3 people have reported shaking in 2 places in Taiwan.We keep updating this article as more ground reports become available. You may report that you felt this earthquake here.

Places with most reports:

• Taichung, Taichung Shih, Taiwan: 2 people.
• Tanshui, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan: 1 person.

27 Aftershocks detected

This main shock was followed by 27 smaller aftershocks. At a distance of 46 km (29 mi) north-east of this earthquake, an aftershock struck 23 hrs later. It measured a magnitude of 4.9

In the days before this main shock, 83 smaller foreshocks were detected. Nearby this earthquake a foreshock struck 9 hrs earlier. It measured a magnitude of 5

Overview of foreshocks and aftershocks

More earthquakes coming?

Aftershocks are usually at least 1 order of magnitude less strong than main shocks. The more time passes, the smaller the chance and likely strength of any potential aftershocks.

It's always adviced to be cautious of the risk of a larger shock following any significant earthquake, however this risk is fairly small. There is a roughly 94 percent change that no larger main shock will follow in the days following this earthquake.

Earthquakes like this happen often in the region

Earthquakes of this strength are very common in the region. This is the strongest earthquake to hit since April 3rd, 2024, when a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit 46 km (28 mi) further north-east. An even stronger magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck on April 2nd, 2024.

In total, 88 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.2 or higher have been registered within 300km (186 mi) of this epicenter in the past 10 years. This comes down to an average of once every month.

Low tsunami risk

Based on early data it appears this earthquake was not strong enough (lower than MAG-6.5) to be likely to cause destructive tsunami's. However this earthquake appeared to have hit at a shallow depth under sea, so stay cautious and monitor advice from local authorities.

Tsunami Risk Factors

Sources

Last updated 02/05/24 01:08 (). This article contains currently available information about the earthquake and is automatically composed. We continue to update this article up to a few days after the earthquake occurred.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us7000mafi
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240406_0000118
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

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