Strong Earthquake Off Taiwan

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Very strong but luckily deep earthquake 50 km east of Yilan county, Taiwan

Last update: June 10, 2012 at 6:37 am by By

Taiwan Central Weather Bureau reports a Magnitude of Ml 6.5 at a depth of 61.7 km (the scales used by USGS and CWB are although different, USGS is using the Moment Magnitude scale and CWB the Ml Local Magnitude scale also called the Richter scale by press and public. Ml is rather accurate up to Ml7.

A very strong but deep earthquake occurred 50 km to the east of North Taiwan.
The depth of approx. 70 km had an effect that people felt the earthquake in a wide radius.
Taiwan has a very good preparedness record but has also a lot of earthquakes. Today’s earthquake is one of the most powerful since a long time, but was luckily deep and off the island’s coast.

Image and intensities courtesy CWB, Taiwan

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : Ml 6.5
UTC Time : Saturday, June 09, 2012 at 21:00:18 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 05:00:18 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 61.7 km
Geo-location(s) :
50 km (31 miles) E of Su’ao, Taiwan
95 km (59 miles) NE of Hualien, Taiwan
100 km (62 miles) SE of TAIPEI, Taiwan

Update : Another Ml 4.8 earthquake (aftershock?) occurred at a depth of 32.4 km at 14:23 local time.  Epicenter more to the South and closer to the coast.

Update : The Magnitude values reported by the various agencies all over the world are seriously different, partly by the different scales but not completely. CWB values refer to a stronger Magnitude and a lesser depth and explain in part why this earthquake was felt so strongly in the north.  Earthquake-report.com gives, different to most press instances in the world, a high credibility to local skilled seismological agencies like CWB.  CWB has a lot of seismographs installed all over the island and therefore reports very accurate values.

Update : as stated below in the Experience reports we have received from our Taiwan readers, minor damage like falling objects and cracks in walls is already a certainty.

Update : Since the mainshock, CWB has reported 2 aftershocks, the first at Ml 4.5 and the second at Ml 5.1. These aftershocks may go on for some time, but as they occur the same distance out of the coast, we consider them not to cause damage.

CWB reported intensities (CWB scale)
The CWB scale is somewhat similar as the JMA (Japan scale) and goes from 0 to 7
5 CWB means in normal language : most people are considerably frightened.
Nan-ao, Yilan County               5
Heping, Hualien County             5
Su-ao, Yilan County                4
Luodong, Yilan County              4
Neicheng, Yilan County             4
Niudou, Yilan County               4
Tailuge, Hualien County            4
Wufenshan, New Taipei City         4
Hualien City, Hualien County       4
Yanliao, Hualien County            4
Nanshan, Yilan County              4
Tongmen, Hualien County            4
Shoufeng, Hualien County           4
Yilan City, Yilan County           4
Deji, Taichung City                4

The earthquake was felt all over the island, but people in the North are reporting heavy shaking.

Taiwan Central Weather Bureau reports a Magnitude of Ml 6.5 at a depth of 61.7 km (the scales used by USGS and CWB are although different, USGS is using the Moment Magnitude scale and CWB the Ml Local Magnitude scale also called the Richter scale by press and public. Ml is rather accurate up to Ml7.

for more information, and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/06/10/very-strong-but-luckily-deep-earthquake-50-km-east-of-yilan-county-taiwan/