1999 Jiji earthquake
| |
| Date | {{{date}}} |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 7.6–7.7 Mw / 7.3 ML |
| Depth | 33 km (20.5 mi) |
| Epicenter location | Jiji, Nantou, Taiwan |
| Countries or regions affected | Taiwan |
| Casualties | 2,415 killed 29 missing 11,305 injured 51,711 buildings obliterated 53,768 buildings damaged |
Damages
The earthquake caused much damage, according to the National Fire Agency, Ministry of the Interior R.O.C. This damage included:
- 2,415 people died or were never found
- 11,441 people were badly hurt
- US$9.2 billion worth of damage or AUD$13.36 billion worth of damage
- 44,338 houses were completely destroyed
- 41,336 houses were badly damaged
The earthquake continued to shake Taiwan throughout the night. People tell stories about a house that was not destroyed but moved by the earthquake from one county to another. The story says that because of this, the owners of the house had to change their address. The earthquake killed many people.
Chelungpu fault
The epicenter of the earthquake was Chichi Township. The 921 Earthquake happened along the Chelungpu fault line in western part of the island of Taiwan. The fault is located along the foothills of the Central Mountains in Nantou and Taichung counties. Some sections of land near the fault were changed in elevation by as much as 7 meters (23 feet). Near the northern end of the fault line, a 7-meter tall waterfall was created by the earthquake. In the middle-western part of the island, bridges were destroyed. This stopped traffic for weeks.
In Wufeng, a village in southern Taichung County, the damage was very bad. The village's Guangfu High School was located on the fault line. It was badly damaged by the quake. Today the high school is the site of the National Museum of Natural Science's 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan. Landslides were created which in turn caused impromptu formation of lakes.
1999 Jiji Earthquake Media
USGS ShakeMap for the event
Aftershock of Chi-Chi earthquake
Magnitude map of 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake
Tunghsing Building, in Taipei City, after the quake.
Heavily damaged Guangfu Junior High School in Wufeng (921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan)
Waterworks pipe bent by the earthquake, 2 meters (7 ft) in width and 1.8 cm (0.7 inches) in thickness, originally underground in Fengyuan, Taichung County, exhibited at the Museum of Drinking Water, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
Notes
Other websites
- National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering Archived 2008-04-15 at the Wayback Machine (NCREE)
