December 16, 1941 Earthquake: Taiwan
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Taiwan on December 16, 1941 at 19:19:42 UTC. It killed 319 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
- December 16, 1941
- Time
- 19:19:42 UTC
- Place
- Taiwan
- Magnitude
- 7.1
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 23.300° N, 120.300° E
- Country
- Taiwan
The toll
- Deaths
- 319
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 1,768
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.
December 17, 1941, 03:19:42 local time, South of Jiayi, Taiwan Province, 23.3 N, 120.3 E, magnitude 7.
Jiayi: 1,768 rooms were totally destroyed, 319 persons
were killed.
The shock was felt in the whole island.
(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
- 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 1941The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1941Recent 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 3693.