| 1946 Hsinhua earthquake | |
| Timestamp: | 1946-12-04 22:46:53 |
| Isc-Event: | 898682 |
| Anss-Url: | iscgem898682 |
| Local-Time: | 06:47 |
| Magnitude: | 6.1 |
| Depth: | 5km (03miles) |
| Location: | 23.1°N 120.3°W |
| Countries Affected: | Taiwan, Republic of China |
| Casualties: | 74 dead |
| Intensity: | [1] |
The 1946 Hsinhua earthquake, also referred to as the 1946 Tainan earthquake was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake which hit Tainan County (now part of Tainan City), Taiwan, on 5 December 1946, at 06:47. The quake claimed 74 lives and was the eighth deadliest earthquake in twentieth century Taiwan.
The 6.1 ML earthquake struck at 06:47 CST on Thursday 5 December 1946, as people in the area were waking up and preparing breakfast. The epicentre was in Hsinhua in the centre of Tainan County at a relatively shallow depth of 5km (03miles); the rupture responsible was the Hsinhua fault . Government geologists in Taiwan believe this fault may have been active a number of times during the (current) Holocene era.[2] There was one major aftershock, on December 17, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale but caused no additional casualties.[3]
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, there were 74 people killed by the quake, with 200 people seriously injured and 274 lightly injured. 1,971 dwellings were completely destroyed, while a further 2,084 dwellings were partially destroyed.[3] Soil liquefaction and sand boils were observed in central Tainan County, and there was widespread damage to railways, roads, farmland, water pipes and bridges.[3] As the disaster came just a year into the new Kuomintang rule in Taiwan, it served as a test for the new government. It was the most serious earthquake in Tainan County in 84 years.[4] [5]