The magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday was the strongest in 25 years, the island’s Central Weather Administration said.
Here’s a look back at some of the major earthquakes in modern Taiwanese history:
In September 1999, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan killed nearly 2,500 people, the United States Geological Survey said. It was the second-deadliest in the island’s history, according to the U.S.G.S. and Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration. More than 10,000 people were injured and more than 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.
Taiwan’s deadliest quake registered a magnitude of 7.1 and struck near the island’s west coast in April 1935, killing more than 3,200 people, the Central Weather Administration said. More than 12,000 others were injured and more than 50,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in December 1941, which struck southwestern Taiwan, caused several hundred deaths, the U.S.G.S. said.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake in February 2016 caused a 17-story apartment complex in southwestern Taiwan to collapse, killing at least 114 people. The U.S.G.S. later said that 90 earthquakes of that scale or greater had occurred within 250 kilometers, or 155 miles, of that quake’s location over the previous 100 years.
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