1966 Hualien earthquake explained

1966 Hualien earthquake
Timestamp:	1966-03-12 16:31:20
Isc-Event:	849160
Anss-Url:	iscgem849160
Local-Time:	00:31
Magnitude:	8.0
Depth:	22 km
Location:	24.24°N 122.67°W
Type:	Strike-slip
Countries Affected:	Taiwan and Japan
Tsunami:	Yes
Intensity:	^[1]
Casualties:	6 dead

The 1966 Hualien earthquake occurred on March 13 at .^[2] The epicenter was located in the offshore area between Yonaguni Island, Japan and Hualien, Taiwan.

The intensity in Yonaguni reached shindo 5.^[3] Two people were reported dead in Yonaguni, Japan, and four in Taiwan.^[4] Building damage was reported. A tsunami with a run-up height of 50cm (20inches) was observed.

This earthquake released a seismic moment of 4.86×10²⁰ Nm. The magnitude of this earthquake was put at 8.0, 7.79,^[5] 7.8, or 7.8.^[6] This earthquake had a strike-slip faulting focal mechanism.

The fault plane solutions of this earthquake suggested that there is a sliver of crust off the east coast of Taiwan other than the Philippine Sea Plate. The map of shallow earthquakes shows that the Philippines are encircled by a zone of seismicity. There is a difference between the slip direction on the east coast of the Philippines and the relative motion between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Together with other evidences, it has been suggested that most of the Philippines might belong to a minor plate other than the Eurasian Plate.^[7]

See also

• List of earthquakes in 1966
• List of earthquakes in Taiwan

Notes and References

1. Web site: Significant Earthquake Information . ngdc.noaa.gov . NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information . 8 March 2022.
2. 10.3319/TAO.1998.9.3.487(TAICRUST) . 1017-0839 . Can Great Earthquakes Occur in the Southernmost Ryukyu Arc-Taiwan Region? . 1998 . Kao . Honn . Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences . 9 . 3 . 487 . 1998TAOS....9..487K . free .
3. Web site: 与那国島周辺の地震 . Jishin.go.jp . 2013-11-11.
4. Web site: 地震と津波 . Jma-net.go.jp . 2013-11-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130123121002/http://www.jma-net.go.jp/ishigaki/saigai/jisintunami.htm . 2013-01-23 .
5. Wang . Tan K. . Lin . Shen-Feng . Liu . Char-Shine . Wang . Cheng-Sung . Crustal structure of the southernmost Ryukyu subduction zone: OBS, MCS and gravity modelling . Geophysical Journal International . 2004 . 157 . 1 . 147–163 . 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02147.x . free . en . 246246/173952 . 2004GeoJI.157..147W . 0956-540X.
6. Web site: Archived copy . 2011-07-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111003175359/http://2007tga.cgu.org.tw/cdrom/Oral%20%28PDF%29/O4-3A-04.pdf . 2011-10-03 . dead . 246246/245626 .
7. The instantaneous rotation vector of the Philippine sea plate relative to the Eurasian plate . 2011-11-24 . 2012-05-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120518051851/http://www.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/seno/Papers/tecphys1977.phs.pdf . dead . 10.1016/0040-1951(77)90168-8 . 1977 . Seno . Tetsuzo . Tectonophysics . 42 . 2–4 . 209–226 . 1977Tectp..42..209S .