December 3, 1848 Earthquake: Zhanghua, Taiwan

December 3, 1848, Zhanghua, Taiwan Province, 24.1 N, 120,5 E, magnitude 6.75, intensity IX.

Civil and military officebuildings, prisons, storehouses,

temples, mansions, military training centers in the town and in Lugang were all wiped out. City walls bulged and battlements fell down. 60-70% of the shops and civilian houses were devastated, the remainder tilted or partly collapsed. In total, more than 13,000 rooms in tile-roofed houses and 7,300 in thatched cottages in town and villages collapsed. There were fissures in the farmland, from which water gushed out. Over a thousand people (13 soldiers in Lugang) were killed, innumerable persons were injured.

Jiayi: A part of government office buildings, city walls and civilian houses in the city toppled down, more than 200 m long city walls and over 250 battlements were destroyed. Over 970 rooms in tile-roofed houses and 1,300 in thatched cottages collapsed, killing 21 inhabitants.

Yunlin and Tuku: More than 100 houses collapsed, killing more than 1,000 people.

Nantou: Some office buildings and civilian houses

collapsed.

Tainan: A few houses collapsed in town and villages.

The earthquake also struck Gaoxiong, Danshui, Yuan and Penghu in Taiwan Province; Quanzhou and Fuzhou in Fujian Province.

Afterwards, quakes occurred from time to time. Many civilian houses (more tile structures than thatched cottages) collapsed now and then.

(above from reference #3939)