The quake that occurred off northern Taiwan at 1:23 pm on May 31st was felt islandwide. The Central Weather Bureau said the quake was caused by the Philippines Sea Plate diving under the Eurasia Plate. The epicenter was located at 70 kilometers east of the northeastern port city of Keelung at a depth of 271 kilometers.
Taiwan lies in a quake-prone area and the island has had six major tsunamis since 1661. Between 1900 and 2006, there were 96 powerful temblors including the devastating 921 quake that killed more than 2,400 people on September 21, 1999. That was also the year Taiwan registered the highest number of tremors with more than 49,000.
Central Weather Bureau stats say Taiwan had an average of 2,200 temblors per year between 1900 and 1990, of which about 214 were felt. More advanced detection equipment meant more quakes were recorded from 1991 to 2004. On average, there were over 18,000 tremors per year during that period and more than 1,000 were felt.
National Central University applied geology professor Lee Chyi-tyi said a bigger earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 may strike Taiwan in the future as a quake of similar size struck the same area about 100 years ago. Lee said it’s about time for another cycle to begin.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Bureau said there have been more quakes in eastern Taiwan this year than last year and that more could hit the island in the second half of the year.