User:Taiwantaffy/Quakes/1906 Haishan Earthquake

The 1906 Meishan earthquake was a magnitude 7.1 earthquake which occurred on March 17, 1906 and was centred on Meishan Township, Jiayi County, Taiwan. Referred to at the time as the Great Ka-gi earthquake, it is the third-deadliest earthquake in Taiwan's recorded history, claiming around 1,260 lives.

Technical data
The earthquake struck at 06:43 local time on March 17, 1906 with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale and a focal depth of 6 km. The event created the Meishan fault, a fault line with a length of 25 km stretching through modern-day Jiayi County. Aftershocks continued throughout the day, hampering rescue efforts.

Damage
Reports vary slightly, but according to the official Central Weather Bureau summary, the casualties and damage were as follows: Fusakichi Omori, a pioneering seismologist from Japan who arrived shortly after the earthquake believed that the high number of casualties was due to the construction of the local houses. Loosely cemented with mud, the combination of sun-dried mud brick walls and heavy roofing beams was thought to be responsible for many dwellings collapsing, killing or injuring the inhabitants. He also found evidence of soil liquefaction, and stated that the town of Bishō (Meishan) had been completely destroyed by the quake.
 * Deaths: 1,258
 * Injuries: 2,385
 * Houses destroyed: 6,772
 * Houses damaged: 14,218

Omori's figures give slightly different casualty rates, and very different statistics for building damage:
 * Deaths: 1,266
 * Injuries: 2,476
 * Houses destroyed: 7,284
 * Houses damaged: 30,021

Reaction
The veteran missionary William Campbell wrote concerning the quake:

The Japanese colonial authorities in Taipei sent teams of medical personnel to assist, and Campbell reported that shortly after the earthquake reconstruction efforts were well advanced. At the time some writers suggested a link between the Meishan quake and the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which occurred a month later, while some religious groups linked it not only with the San Francisco disaster, but also an earlier earthquake in Cambria, Italy and other natural disasters as a sign of the end-times.