Shallow M4.8 AFTERSHOCK hit in the Philippine Sea near Hualien City (Taiwan) on Tuesday Night.

Written by Earthquakelist.org on April 22nd, 2024. Last updated May 3rd, 2024.

In the Philippine Sea 29 kilometer from Hualien City, Taiwan, a shallow Magnitude 4.8 aftershock occurred in the early morning of Tuesday April 23rd, 2024. Japan is also near its epicenter.

Felt the earthquake? Share this article:

Earthquake Summary

This earthquake hit under water in the Philippine Sea, right off the coast of Taiwan (1 mi offshore), 29 kilometer south of Hualien City in Hualien County. The center of this earthquake had a very shallow depth of 14 km. Shallow earthquakes usually have a larger impact than earthquakes deep in the earth.

Date and Time:	Apr 23, 2024 05:14 (Taipei Time) - Apr 22, 2024 21:14 Universal Time.
Location:	29 km south of Hualien City, Hualien County, Taiwan. Coordinates 23°43'7"N 121°33'19"E.
Map:	Map of area around epicenter. Click to open in Google Maps.
Magnitude:	MAG 4.8 Detected by 18 stations. Maximum Error Range ±0.073 .
Depth:	14 km (9 mi) A very 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 29 kilometer (18 mi) south of Hualien City.

Major cities near this earthquake: Taipei is located 148 km to the north. Hualien City is located 29 km to the north. Taichung is located 101 km to the west-northwest.

A complete list of nearby places is included below.

Overview of nearby places

This is likely an aftershock

Approximately 3 hrs before this earthquake hit, a larger 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck 9 km (5 mi) east of this one. For that reason, we classify the Mag. 4.8 earthquake as an aftershock.

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. In total, 391 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.8 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 9 days.

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 03/05/24 21:38 (). This article is automatically generated based on available data. We keep checking multiple sources for additional information. This article gets updated as new details on this earthquake become available.

1. US Geographic Society (USGS): Earthquake us6000mt1u
2. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC): Earthquake 20240422_0000281
3. Geonames.org: World Cities Database
4. Google Maps: Static API
5. Earthquakelist.org: Historic Earthquakes Database

Share this article: