User:Taiwantaffy/Quakes/1946 Xinhua Earthquake

The 1946 Xinhua earthquake, also referred to as the 1946 Tainan earthquake was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake which hit Tainan County, Taiwan, on December 5, 1946 at 06:47. The quake claimed 74 lives and was the eighth deadliest earthquake in twentieth century Taiwan.

Technical details
The 6.1 ML earthquake struck at 06:47 CST on Thursday December 5 1946, as people in the area were waking up and preparing breakfast. The epicentre was in Xinhua in the centre of Tainan County at a relatively shallow depth of 5 km; the rupture responsible was the Xinhua fault. Government geologists in Taiwan believe this fault may have been active a number of times during the (current) Holocene era. There was one major aftershock, on December 17, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale but caused no additional casualties.

Damage
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, the casualties and damage were as follows: Soil liquefaction and sand boils were observed in central Tainan County, and there was widespread damage to railways, roads, farmland, water pipes and bridges. As the disaster came just a year into the new Kuomintang rule in Taiwan, it served as a test for the new government. It was the most serious earthquake in Tainan County in 84 years.
 * 74 dead
 * 200 seriously injured
 * 274 lightly injured
 * 1,971 dwellings completely destroyed
 * 2,084 dwellings partially destroyed