December 6, 1938 Earthquake: Taiwan

Date

December 6, 1938

Time

23:00:51 UTC

Place

Taiwan

Magnitude

7 (Ms)

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

22.900° N, 121.500° E

Country

Taiwan

Damage

Limited (under about $1 million)

Houses destroyed

13

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.

• April 20, 1935, Mialoi, TaiwanM6 · 3,276 deaths · 17,907 houses destroyed · 171 km
• September 20, 1999, Nantou, Taichung, Taizhong, TaiwanM7.6 · 2,297 deaths · $14 billion · 125 km
• 1721, Tainan, Taiwan2,000 deaths · 134 km
• June 6, 1862, Tainan, TaiwanM6.5 · 2,000 deaths · 163 km
• March 16, 1906, Jiayi, TaiwanM6.8 · 1,258 deaths · 6,769 houses destroyed · 128 km
• December 3, 1848, Zhanghua, TaiwanM6.8 · 1,001 deaths · 20,300 houses destroyed · 168 km
• February 1845, Zhanghua, TaiwanM6 · 380 deaths · 4,000 houses destroyed · 168 km
• December 16, 1941, TaiwanM7.1 · 319 deaths · 1,768 houses destroyed · 131 km
• January 30, 1736, Tainan, TaiwanM6 · 260 deaths · 500 houses destroyed · 125 km
• August 9, 1792, Jiayi, Tainan, TaiwanM6.8 · 252 deaths · 14,889 houses destroyed · 128 km
• August 28, 1916, TaiwanM6.5 · 180 deaths · 614 houses destroyed · 108 km
• November 5, 1904, Jiayi, TaiwanM6.3 · 145 deaths · 661 houses destroyed · 140 km
• February 5, 2016, Tainan, TaiwanM6.4 · 117 deaths · $700 million · 92 km
• June 27, 1839, Jiayi, TaiwanM6.5 · 117 deaths · 6,600 houses destroyed · 125 km
• January 18, 1964, Tainan, TaiwanM7 · 107 deaths · 3,000 houses destroyed · 98 km

Significant earthquakes of 1938The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1938Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

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 8012.