June 6, 1862 Earthquake: Tainan, Taiwan
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Tainan, Taiwan on June 6, 1862. It killed 2,000 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 6, 1862
- Place
- Tainan, Taiwan
- Magnitude
- 6.5 (Ms)
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 23.400° N, 120.000° E
- Country
- Taiwan
The toll
- Deaths
- 2,000
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
June 6, 1862, Coastal region of Jiayi and Tainan, Taiwan Province, 23.4 N,
120.1 E, magnitude 6.5, intensity VIII.
Jiayi: City walls and battlements collapsed dozens of
meters long; wall facing was mostly damaged; the mud walls outside the west gate failed. Innumerable civilian houses collapsed. Fissures 30 cm wide and 3 meters deep appeared at several places with spurting mud. Thousands of people were killed.
Tainan: Over half of gate towers, city walls, parapets
and shops were destroyed; halls of the Confucian Temple were damaged. In Guiren Township, the ground cracked and sank in, with ejection of black sand and bittern. Sanhuan Temple in Zuozhen Township toppled down; walls were rased. In Maogangwei, trees shook almost to touch the ground; houses collapsed; 3 palaces of Tianhou collapsed; over 200 people were killed, and double injured. The ground subsided at Zengwenxi. A landslide occurred at the Yuzhen Hill.
Yujing (E of Tainan) : The Beijidian hall collapsed.
Yunlin: The ground cracked for dozens of meters long; the Dajian Hill collapsed; turbid streams became clear for 3 days.
Penghu: The Prefecture office collapsed.
Danshui: A great water-hole caved in.
The earthquake also struck Jinmen and Tong'an of Fujian Province as well as Miaoli.
(above from reference #3939)
June 6, 1862, Tainan, 1,000 killed. (reference #1051)
June 6, 1862, kagi, 24 N, 121 E, in the shock of 1862 more than 1,000 persons were killed. (reference #1068)
June 6, 1862, Tainan, Formosa, intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which destroyed towns and devastated districts. (reference #1055)
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
- 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
- June 27, 1839, Jiayi, Taiwan
- February 5, 2016, Tainan, Taiwan
More
Significant earthquakes of 1862The 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 2059.