June 27, 1839 Earthquake: Jiayi, Taiwan
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Jiayi, Taiwan on June 27, 1839. It killed 117 people.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- June 27, 1839
- Place
- Jiayi, Taiwan
- Magnitude
- 6.5 (Ms)
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 23.400° N, 120.400° E
- Country
- Taiwan
The toll
- Deaths
- 117
- Injuries
- 534
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 6,600
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
June 27, 1839, Jiayi, Taiwan Province, 23.4 N, 120.4 E, magnitude 6.5, intensity VIII.
Over 20-m city walls and 981 battlements toppled down (only 429 battlements remained). Government buildings, prisons, storehouses either were completely wiped out, or had only pillars left. A total of more than 6,600 roams in civilian houses collapsed in the city and in villages. 117 people were killed and 534 injured.
Maoweigang (about 20 km north of Tainan): Several
civilian houses collapsed. The earthquake also struck Fengshan (Gaoxiong) and Tainan.
There were 12 foreshocks beginning the day before.
Aftershocks kept occurring after two weeks, over 840 originally tilted houses collapsed.
(above from reference #3939)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- May 22, 1782, Tainan, Taiwan
- April 20, 1935, Mialoi, Taiwan
- July 16, 1935, Xiinzhu, Taiwan
- September 20, 1999, Nantou, Taichung, Taizhong, Taiwan
- June 6, 1862, Tainan, Taiwan
- 1721, Tainan, Taiwan
- March 16, 1906, Jiayi, Taiwan
- December 3, 1848, Zhanghua, Taiwan
- February 1845, Zhanghua, Taiwan
- December 16, 1941, Taiwan
- January 30, 1736, Tainan, Taiwan
- August 9, 1792, Jiayi, Tainan, Taiwan
- August 28, 1916, Taiwan
- November 5, 1904, Jiayi, Taiwan
- February 5, 2016, Tainan, Taiwan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1839The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 1816.