Taiwan earthquakes

M7.7 earthquake 21 km S of Puli, Taiwan

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck 21 km S of Puli, Taiwan on Tue, Sep 21, 1999, 1:47 AM GMT+8 (17:47 UTC), 33 km (21 mi) below the surface.

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Map

Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 7.7 (mwc), major
Local time: Tue, Sep 21, 1999, 1:47 AM GMT+8
UTC: 1999-09-20 17:47:18 UTC
Depth: 33.0 km (20.5 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 23.772° N, 120.982° E
Region: Taiwan
Strongest shaking: IX, violent shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 5535), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 2,297
Injuries: 8,700
Damage: $14 billion
Houses destroyed: 8,200
Houses damaged: 82,000

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: IX, violent shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 83.1% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 5.2 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

Fault motion and ground failure

How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.

Faulting: Reverse (thrust)
Moment magnitude: 7.6 Mww
Nodal plane 1: Strike 209°, dip 68°, rake 89°
Nodal plane 2: Strike 31°, dip 21°, rake 92°
Landslide alert: Red
Liquefaction alert: Red

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Depth from: OPERATOR_ASSIGNED

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 4.7 and up: 62 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.

After

The first 60 of 62.

Earthquakes today Taiwan earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0009eq0 (also filed as choy19990920174718, gcmtc092099d, gcmt19990920174718, duputel092099d, atlas19990920174718, iscgem1718616). Read Tue, Sep 29, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC.