Very strong dangerous (shallow) earthquake in Hualien County, Taiwan

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Update 00:20 UTC : So far we could NOT detect more additional damage or injuries.

Update 15:19 UTC : - Some cracked houses (walls) are being reported
- Traffic in the epicenter area is normal

Update 15:19 UTC : - A man in Hualien County was crushed by furniture and has been taken to a hospital
- 8 people were trapped in an elevator when the earthquake struck
- The overall damage / injuries are looking fairly good at this time although it is still too soon to be conclusive as we need daylight to have a good overview.

Fallen products from shelves in a supermarket in New Taipei City - image courtesy cqnews.net

Update 14:56 UTC : Taiwan Railways reports that 46 trains affecting 9500 people have been delayed due to the earthquake

Update 14:51 UTC : The nuclear power plants in Taiwan are not affected.

Update 14:49 UTC : The Max Wyss theoretical damage engine gave the following values :
ESTIMATE OF HUMAN LOSSES
Injured Exp. min/max: 50/600
Fatalities Exp. min/max: 0/100
These results are mainly based on historical events - ER expects lower values than the minimum values of this calculation

Update 14:41 UTC : The earthquake occurred during darkness (8:02 PM). It is almost midnight right now and we do not expect a lot of news before the early morning hours, but we will of course continue to search for it.

Update 14:38 UTC : A 79 years old woman fell and broke something
Falling tiles are also being reported but nothing else so far.

Update 14:25 UTC : We expect landslides to damage some areas severely.
- USGS has decreased the Magnitude from the original M6.7 to M6.3 - Depth has been changed from 10 km to 12 km.
- Below the CWB list of aftershocks at the time of writing :

Update 11:20 UTC : - CWB Taiwan is reporting a Magnitude of 6.3 at a depth of 20 km, still very dangerous but less dangerous than the USGS values.

The earthquake is very dangerous and below land !

Pacific Tsunami message (NOT for the Taiwan coast) : NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.
HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

Taiwan Intensity scale
Taiwan uses a scale which is more or less similar than Japan. Shaking values of 6 can be compared with JMA5+ which ER considers as potentially damaging :
CWB 6 or Very Strong shaking (Hualien County) : - People have trouble walking due to violent rocking.
- Damage to some buildings; heavy furniture overturns; doors and windows bend.
- Drivers have trouble steering; sand and clay blasts occur.
CWB 5 or Strong Shaking (Nantou, Yilan and Central Hualien Counties) : - Most people are considerably frightened.
- Walls crack; heavy furniture may overturn.
- Noticeably felt by drivers; some chimneys and large archways topple over.

61km (38mi) SSW of Hualian, Taiwan
61km (38mi) SSE of Buli, Taiwan
62km (39mi) ESE of Lugu, Taiwan
79km (49mi) SE of Nantou, Taiwan
744km (462mi) ENE of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

162 km S of Taipei, Taiwan / pop: 7,871,900 / local time: 20:02:09.0 2013-10-31
46 km S of Hualian, Taiwan / pop: 350,468 / local time: 20:02:09.0 2013-10-31

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 6.3

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-10-31 20:02:08

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-10-31 12:02:08

Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km

Depth and Magnitude updates in the list below.

Share your earthquake experience (I Have Felt It) with our readers.
Click on the "I Felt It" button behind the corresponding earthquake. Your earthquake experience is not only important for science, but also for people in the area as well as our global readership.

					Refresh this list
SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFO
USGS	Hualian, Taiwan	Oct 31 23:52	4.2	9	MAP
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 23:52	4.5	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
GEOFON	Taiwan	Oct 31 23:52	4.5	5	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 20:44	3.9	9	MAP
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 20:30	3.7	6	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 19:27	4.2	22	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 16:05	4.4	8	MAP
GEOFON	Taiwan	Oct 31 15:47	4.7	10	MAP
USGS	Hualian, Taiwan	Oct 31 15:47	4.8	4	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 15:47	4.9	8	MAP I Felt It INFO
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 14:25	3.5	14	MAP
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 13:57	4.6	13	MAP
GEOFON	Taiwan	Oct 31 13:45	4.6	10	MAP
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 13:45	4.6	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
PTWC	Taiwan	Oct 31 12:10	6.7	10	MAP
USGS	Hualian, Taiwan	Oct 31 12:02	6.7	10	MAP
USGS	Hualian, Taiwan	Oct 31 12:02	6.3	12	MAP
GEOFON	Taiwan	Oct 31 12:02	6.2	10	MAP
EMSC	Taiwan	Oct 31 12:02	6.3	10	MAP I Felt It INFO
Hschinchu - The earthquake was so long New Taipei City - The japanese style doors in my house made a HUGE ruckus and my dog was so scared, he pooped himself. New Taipei City - Nothing much happened here, just the room shaking. Hualien - No damage but strong shakes. Putian - I was laying on my couch and felt a slight shake. hanging objects swang. I'm on a high floor in my building. Zhongxiao - A few strong shakes, but was brief... a few seconds. Strongest quake felt here in many months. Started lightly, then peaked a few seconds later. Taipei - Woke me Taichung - Felt like (and sounded like) 100 giant trucks driving by and shaking up the building, Baozhong - Felt the shakes pretty well. Kaohsiung - We are from Palau and this is the first time that we experience earthquake here in Kaohsiung. My husband is a patient at Kaohsiung Medical University Chung Ho Hospital and we are staying at the 19th floor and felt a strong shaking that lasted 2-3 minutes. We are watching the news but it's all in Chinese. We wish there was an English Channel. Hangzhou City - Swaying of apartment building, felt dizzy Taipei City - Relatively heavy earthquake. Cupboard doors swinging open and close. Most earthquake in Taipei are quite smooth, but this one was more shocking than usual Wenzhou - Originally thought it was the building shaking from passing vehicles, but it kept going on for 10 seconds. No item fell. Dazhi - Shaking lasted for around 15 seconds, nothing damaged. Scared us enough to look into emergency prep for next time. Jhubei - The whole building swayed back and forth for about a minute. Hyatt next to 101 Tower - building swawed side to side. lots of creaking TSA Airport - I was indoors signs started to swing for several seconds. Taipei - The strongest earthquake I have experienced in the 10 months I've been living here. I'm happy I have moved from the 18th to the 3rd. No damage here, but still a little shaky feeling. Taipei - The strongest quake since I moved here in March 2013. The initial jolt was fairly strong, but of short duration. Wenzhou - felt dizzy only to realise my college dorm was swaying. Pretty scary Jhushan Township - I felt when my wife called it, a grabbed my kids and got under the table, if felt pretty strong and lasted a long time, nothing fell but the tv is secured with a cable, it felt very strong but June's was more vilolent here. Di Asrama - make me scary because this first experiences meet strong earthquake Linsen North Road - Hotelkamer ging heen en weer. Xingyu Road - no damage. I guessed that the earthquake must be hundreds of kilometers away (maybe Sichuan) But found this site after googling for latest earthquake reports. Da-an District - Ground shaking a lot and was like I was drunk! Nantau County - Hanya merasakan suara gemuruh didalam rumah serta lmpu yg bergoyang - goyang syukurlah hanya sebentar. Taipei - Some objects felt down Taipei - Swaying lights and a strong swinging sensation in the building (7th floor). Strongest earthquake I have ever felt. Taipei - Häuser Haben sich bewegt Quanzhou - The buildin was swaying, it's terrible. Renwu, Kaohsiung - It shook all in a sudden when I was typing a report at desk. At the beginning I thought it was caused by my cracky chair but it was not. I felt dizzy and noticed the rope of my lamp swung irregularly. Hope that nobody would get hurt in the earthquake. Kaohsiung - Saw the lights shaking and then started feeling pretty dizzy. Taïpeï - Aucun dommage, immeuble moderne Centre - First time I experienced an earthquake Hsinchu - Strong shaking for about 10-15 seconds. Xinyi - En 3ans c est le plus fort tremblement de terre , beaucoup d objets sont tombés. Impressionnante sensation.. j étais sans voix! Zhongli City - Long earthquake (about 1 minute) started slowly, peaked around 15 seconds then shook weakly after 30 seconds. Hualien City - Books and fragile decorations fell off shelves and broke. Xizhi - Secousse en deux étapes: en premier lieu la légère sensation de mal de mer habituelle, avec un chandelier qui oscille sensiblement, juste le temps de se dire 'tremblement de terre' puis arrive une secousse assez nette mais brève (5 secondes tout au plus). Pas de dommages, ni même de chutes d'objets. Hualian - Nous étions dans le train de Taitung à taipei et le tremblement a eu lieu juste quelques minutes après notre passage à hualian. Nous avons crû que le train allait dérailler...! Hangzhou - It's been scaring. I live at the 15th floor, I felt dizzy. Hangzhou - No damage, but I was watching TV and I suddenly felt really lightheaded and dizzy. I live on the 20th floor and the building was rocking back and forth, caused the towel on the wall to move back and forth. I honestly felt like I ate or drank something really bad and was going to be sick, until I realized the entire building was doing it and not just me. New Taipei City - Felt like one big push. Was outside, starting hearing lots of noise and water splashing around, and saw some lights swaying. It was quite strong, not a typical quake.
WCATWC	Taiwan	Oct 31 12:02	6.7	9	MAP

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Shaking Strength *
MMI II (Very weak shaking)	? People : Felt by persons at rest, on upper floors or favorably placed.
MMI III (Weak shaking)	? People : Felt indoors; hanging objects may swing, vibration similar to passing of light trucks, duration may be estimated, may not be recognized as an earthquake.
MMI IV (Light shaking)	? People : Generally noticed indoors but not outside. Light sleepers may be awakened. Vibration may be likened to the passing of heavy traffic, or to the jolt of a heavy object falling or striking the building. Fittings : Doors and windows rattle. Glassware and crockery rattle. Liquids in open vessels may be slightly disturbed. Standing motorcars may rock. Structures : Walls and frames of buildings, and partitions and suspended ceilings in commercial buildings, may be heard to creak.
MMI V (Moderate shaking)	? People : Generally felt outside, and by almost everyone indoors. Most sleepers awakened. A few people alarmed. Fittings : Small unstable objects are displaced or upset. Some glassware and crockery may be broken. Hanging pictures knock against the wall. Open doors may swing. Cupboard doors secured by magnetic catches may open. Pendulum clocks stop, start, or change rate. Structures : Some large display windows cracked. A few earthenware toilet fixtures cracked.
MMI VI (Strong shaking)	? People Felt by all. People and animals alarmed. Many run outside. Difficulty experienced in walking steadily. Fittings : Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall from walls. Some furniture moved on smooth floors, some unsecured free-standing fireplaces moved. Glassware and crockery broken. Very unstable furniture overturned. Small church and school bells ring. Appliances move on bench or table tops. Filing cabinets or "easy glide" drawers may open (or shut). Structures : Slight damage to buildings with low standard. Some stucco or cement plaster falls. Large display windows broken. Damage to a few weak domestic chimneys, some may fall. Environment : Trees and bushes shake, or are heard to rustle. Loose material may be dislodged from sloping ground, e.g. existing slides, talus slopes, shingle slides.
MMI VII (Very strong shaking)	? People General alarm. Difficulty experienced in standing. Noticed by motorcar drivers who may stop. Fittings : Large bells ring. Furniture moves on smooth floors, may move on carpeted floors. Substantial damage to fragile contents of buildings. Structures : Unreinforced stone and brick walls cracked. Low standard buildings cracked with some minor masonry falls. A few instances of damage to buildings of ordinary workmanship. Unbraced parapets, unbraced brick gables, and architectural ornaments fall. Roofing tiles, especially ridge tiles may be dislodged. Many unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, often falling from roof-line. Water tanks Type I burst. A few instances of damage to brick veneers and plaster or cement-based linings. Unrestrained water cylinders (hot-water cylinders) may move and leak. Some common windows cracked. Suspended ceilings damaged. Environment : Water made turbid by stirred up mud. Small slides such as falls of sand and gravel banks, and small rock-falls from steep slopes and cuttings. Instances of settlement of unconsolidated or wet, or weak soils. Some fine cracks appear in sloping ground. A few instances of liquefaction (i.e. small water and sand ejections).
MMI VIII (Severe shaking)	? People Alarm may approach panic. Steering of motorcars greatly affected. Structures : Low standard buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. ordinary workmanship buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged in some cases. A few instances of damage to buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes. Monuments and pre-1976 elevated tanks and factory stacks twisted or brought down. Some pre-1965 infill masonry panels damaged. A few post-1980 brick veneers damaged. Decayed timber piles of houses damaged. Houses not secured to foundations may move. Most unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, some below roof-line, many brought down. Environment : Cracks appear on steep slopes and in wet ground. Small to moderate slides in roadside cuttings and unsupported excavations. Small water and sand ejections and localized lateral spreading adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
MMI IX (Violent shaking)	? Structures Many low standard buildings destroyed. Ordinary workmanship buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes damaged in some cases, some with flexible frames seriously damaged. Damage or permanent distortion to some buildings and bridges, designed and built to normal use standards. Houses not secured to foundations shifted off. Brick veneers fall and expose frames. Environment : Cracking of ground conspicuous. Landsliding general on steep slopes. Liquefaction effects intensified and more widespread, with large lateral spreading and flow sliding adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
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Very strong dangerous (shallow) earthquake in Hualien County, Taiwan

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