July 20, 1988 Earthquake: Hualien, Su-Hua, Taiwan

Name: July 20, 1988 Earthquake: Hualien, Su-Hua, Taiwan
Start: 1988-07-20
Location: Hualien, Su-Hua, Taiwan

July 20, 1988 · M5.7 · 1 death

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Hualien, Su-Hua, Taiwan on July 20, 1988 at 23:15:36 UTC, 51 km below the surface. It killed 1 person.

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: July 20, 1988
Time: 23:15:36 UTC
Place: Hualien, Su-Hua, Taiwan
Magnitude: 5.7 (Ms)
Magnitude scales: Ms 5.7 · mb 5.8
Focal depth: 51 km (32 mi)
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 23.902° N, 121.598° E
Country: Taiwan
Region: East Asia
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 1
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)

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 happened

The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.

One person killed and one injured. Landslides damaged a major highway between Hua-lien and Su-hua. Felt throughout most of Taiwan. Depth from broadband displacement seismograms. FAULT PLANE SOLUTION: P-Waves NP1:Strike=338 Dip=74 Slip=140 NP2:Strike=81 Dip=52 Slip=21 Principal Axes: (T) Plg=39 Azm=292 (P) Plg=14 Azm=34 Comment: The focal mechanism is moderately well controlled and corresponds to strike-slip faulting with a large reverse component. The preferred fault plane is not determined. RADIATED ENERGY No. of sta: 5 Focal mech. C Energy 9.9+4.4*10**12 Nm MOMENT TENSOR SOLUTION Dep 21 No. of sta: 9 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**17 Nm Mrr=2.15 Mtt=-2.09 Mff=-0.06 Mrt=0.28 Mrf=4.93 Mtf=5.56 Principal axes: (T) Val=7.74 Plg=38 Azm=301 (N) Val=0.00 Plg=46 Azm=157 (P) Val=-7.74 Plg=19 Azm=46 Best Double Couple:Mo=7.7*10**17 NP1:Strike=90 Dip=48 Slip=16 NP2:Strike=349 Dip=78 Slip=137 CENTROID, MOMENT TENSOR (HRV) Data Used: GDSN L.P.B.: 10S, 29C Centroid Location: Origin Time 23:15:37.5 0.3 Lat 23.53N 0.04 Lon 121.35E 0.05 Dep 36.8 2.6 Half-duration 3.4 Moment Tensor; Scale 10**17 Nm Mrr=5.61 0.33 Mtt=-1.32 0.26 Mff=-4.29 0.47 Mrt=1.14 0.49 Mrf=4.10 0.48 Mtf=-5.02 0.34 Principal Axes: (T) Val=7.15 Plg=67 Azm=255 (N) Val=1.98 Plg=16 Azm=30 (P) Val=-9.13 Plg=15 Azm=125 Best Double Couple:Mo=8.1*10**17 NP1:Strike=237 Dip=33 Slip=121 NP2:Strike=21 Dip=62 Slip=71

From the USGS event page for usp0003j1r. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
5.9	Mw, moment	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
5.88	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
5.9	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary
5.73	Me, energy	Choy, USGS energy magnitude	Reviewed

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

One person killed and one injured. Landslides damaged a major highway between Hua-lien and Su-hua. Felt throughout most of Taiwan. (reference #1053)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.
#1232 International Seismological Centre (1964-1990). Regional Catalogue of Earthquakes, 1964-1990, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1988 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1988 Recent earthquakes near here This 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5163. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0003j1r, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.