Earthquake Season 2022

Taiwan has a lot of earthquakes. Most are too small to notice. Some are big enough, but you don't notice them anyway. There was a 5.1 earthquake in the middle of the country last week. It was reportedly felt all over the island. I never knew about it until I read the news.

I was on a train to Taipei a few months ago. When the train started to slow down nowhere near a station, I assumed it was some kind of mechanical issue. Then I got a phone call asking me if I was okay.

“The train will get in late if it doesn't speed up,” I said. “But how did you know?”

There was a large earthquake between where I was and where I was going. The high speed train moved very slowly just in case there was damage to the tracks. I never felt any earthquake. You might think that was because I was on a train, but the high speed train is pretty smooth. Not Japan smooth. If you stand a coin upright, it will probably fall. But the cars were made in Japan. It is not a bumpy ride.

On Tuesday morning there was a 3.4 in Yilan, over 200km from Kaohsiung. That was too far away and too small for me to feel. Two hours later, there was a 4.8 off the coast of Haulien, just south of Yilan. I felt that one. It was like a large truck driving by. It ended before I even realized it was an earthquake.

At 01:06 on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, there was a 5.4 off the coast of Taitung. I felt that one. The epicenter was just over 100km away, and 5.4 is a lot bigger than 4.8. At 01:41, there was more shaking. At first, I thought it was an aftershock to the 5.4. Only this one felt much larger and lasted far longer. I never timed it, but it just kept going. It was like hearing “American Pie” for the first time. You think it is going to wind down after yet another chorus, but then here comes another verse. In the middle of all the shaking, my phone started screaming. The government sends out automated alert messages as soon as possible to warm people of the larger earthquakes. More often than not, you get the message a second before you feel the ground shake, or as it starts. This time, I got the message right in the middle. That either meant I was close to the epicenter or it was going to be a big one.

What I initially thought was an aftershock turned out to be a 6.6 earthquake in Hualien, 150km north of the 5.4 in Taitung. We get a lot of earthquakes, but a 6.6 thirty five minutes after a 5.4, in two completely different locations, is a little unusual.

The first aftershock to the 6.6 came exactly one minute later. It was a healthy 5.7. Less than a minute after that one, there was a 6.1 aftershock. The experts are still debating if that was an aftershock or its own earthquake. It was certainly large enough, but it was in the same area and came two minutes after the 6.6.

Between 01:44 and 12:26 there were at least 49 aftershocks larger than 4.0. Two of them managed to top 5.8. The tectonic plates are still angry as I type this, though the aftershocks are getting smaller. I can't feel any of them anymore.

So far, there are no reports of any serious damage or death. I have not heard about any freeway damage yet, though something along the east coast must have broken. Haulien and Taitung are the two least populated counties, outside of the smaller island groups. Not coincidentally, they take the brunt of most earthquakes and typhoons.

In the middle of all these aftershocks, there was a tiny 2.7 in Hsinchu, 150km away from all the action. Nobody is going to talk about that one. That was like Farrah Fawcett dying on the same day as Michael Jackson.

Most of this happened today. Some of the numbers above will probably change as the experts make their calculations.