May 22, 1782 Earthquake: Tainan, Taiwan

Reference #414:

1782, May 22 (1682, December ?). An earthquake which affected all of Taiwan Island and caused great destruction, was accompanied by tsunami waves, which ran onto the coast of the island in an east-west direction. Almost the entire island was flooded for a distance of more than 120 km (30 leagues). The tremors and tsunami waves lasted 8 hours. The three main cities of the island and 20 villages were first destroyed by the earthquake and then by the tsunami. Retreating, the water left buildings, at best, as piles of debris. Not a single living soul was left. More than 40,000 residents died.

Reference #150:

1782, May 22. South China Sea. Taiwan strait coast tsunami. Sea rose with great violence and remained its height 1 or 8 hrs. Tsunami swept away villages and many people drowned.

Reference #79:

1782, May 22. Source: South China Sea; Observation Taiwan. Sea rose with great violence and remained high 1 or 8 hours. Swept away villages and drowned immense numbers. No quake mentioned. Wave possibly of meteorological origin.

Reference #1855:

Researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at Hong Kong University (Lung Chan and his research assistant) have been researching a broad spectrum of Chinese language local mainland and Taiwanese records. He has found that there is a record of a "serious" tsunami event in 1605 caused by a Magnitude 8 earthquake in the Taiwan Strait fairly close to the Chinese mainland which affected the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province on the Chinese mainland. The 1605 earthquake has been confirmed from previous academic research. They have also located records of another separate event apparently caused by an earthquake (of possibly substantially less magnitude - M7?) in the Taiwan Strait fairly close to south-western Taiwan in "April to July 1781" which affected the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, but the death toll was evidently very much lower than 40,000 people. There are references to people climbing up bamboo to escape, and others being washed away.