Earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 and 6.9 occurred for two consecutive days. Why are there so many earthquakes in Taiwan?

Since the night of September 17, Taitung County and Hualien County in Taiwan have successively experienced 6.5-magnitude and 6.9-magnitude earthquakes and multiple aftershocks, causing property losses and casualties. The 6.9-magnitude Hualien earthquake in Taiwan and the 6.5-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan are earthquake swarm activities in the same area. They are shallow-source earthquakes, which cause the earthquake to have a greater impact on the surface, causing strong tremors on Taiwan Island, and coastal areas such as Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Jiangsu felt obvious tremors. According to the earthquake information broadcasting robot, from January 1, 2022 to the present, my country has experienced 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 to 6.9 and 0 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or above. The largest earthquakes were the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Menyuan County, Haibei Prefecture, Qinghai on January 8 and the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Hualien County, Taiwan on September 18.

1. Earthquake situation

1. The China Earthquake Networks Center officially determined that at 21:41 on September 17, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in Taitung County, Taiwan (23.05 degrees north latitude, 121.21 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 10 kilometers.

2. The China Earthquake Networks Center officially determined that a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred at 14:44 on September 18 in Hualien County, Taiwan (23.15 degrees north latitude, 121.30 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 10 kilometers.

Hualien's 6.9-magnitude earthquake is the largest earthquake in Taiwan this year

3. On-site situation

2. Why are there so many earthquakes in Taiwan?

Taiwan is located in the western part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Pacific Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Plate meet. Affected by the westward movement of the Pacific Plate, the Philippine Plate dives toward the Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 75 mm/year, causing frequent earthquakes in Taiwan, making it the region with the strongest earthquake activity in my country. Since 1970, an average of 14 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or above have occurred each year, including 2.3 earthquakes of magnitude 6-6.9 and 0.35 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above. Hualien and Taitung, which border the Pacific Ocean in eastern Taiwan, are the main sites of earthquake activity in Taiwan.

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