Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 5.5

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-03-07 11:36:46

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-03-07 03:36:46

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 15 km

Update 08:41 UTC : 16 M3+ aftershocks since the mainshock. Strongest aftershock so far : 4.5 (4 above M4). No evidence of damage so far. If we would track even some minor damage, we will report it here.

Update 05:52 UTC : NO reports of damage yet (more than 3 hours after the mainshock). This is a good sign as the earthquake has occurred during daylight, earthquake response and assessment is generally much faster during daylight than during the night.

Update 05:45 UTC : Taiwan is generally well prepared for earthquakes. After many cruel earthquakes in the past, building code has been improved a lot and earthquake drills are a common issue in education. To prove their building skills, Taiwan had during relatively long time the highest building in the world, the 509 meter high Taipei 101 Tower.

Update 05:37 UTC : Below the list of aftershocks of M3 or more as reported by CWB Taiwan, the strongest one being a M4.1. Epicenters are located in the same area as the mainshock.

Update 05:13 UTC : Today’s earthquake was mainly normal faulting (see beachball below). Taiwan has very complicated tectonics with all kind of focal mechanisms. The Philippine Sea plate is sliding 82 mm/year from the East to the West, which is an impressive speed and which explains at the same time the many earthquakes Taiwan has.
A good tectonic overview of Taiwan can be read here  (also the University who did publish the map below).

Taiwan tectonics – image courtesy Ludwig Maximilians University Munchen Germany

Update 05:13 UTC : The picture below gives an impression of the earthquake’s epicenter area, the Central Mountain Range.

Image courtesy Tai2

Update 04:58 UTC : We are currently scanning our many sources but have luckily not found any trace of damage as yet. Let’s hope it remains like this.

Update 04:48 UTC : Based on the reports from our readers we do not think that serious shaking damage will be inflicted, secondary impact from for example landslides are a real possibility however. The picture below shows a landslide in April 2010 after a M6.5 earthquake struck the island.

Image courtesy Central News Agency, Taiwan – landslide after a M6.5 earthquake in 2010

Update 04:45 UTC : Taiwan has often damaging landslides during similar earthquakes. People in this area are somewhat used to earthquakes but strong ones like this do not happen very common. The area is well known for strong earthquakes however (see map below which shows the earthquakes near todays epicenter since early 2012 only).

Update 04:36 UTC : CWB Taiwan reports somewhat better numbers with the same Magnitude of M5.6 but with a deeper hypocenter of 15.6 km. The shaking intensity was max. 5 CWB in Yilan County and Taichung City. Other intensities : see below.
An intensity CWB 5 should be read as : Strong     Indoors : Most people are considerably frightened. Walls crack; heavy furniture may overturn. Outdoors : Noticeably felt by drivers; some chimneys and large archways topple over.
A CWB 5 can be compared with an MMI VII – The JMA (Japan) and CWB (Taiwan) intensity scales are rather similar.

Update 04:34 UTC : The epicenter is also close to Nanhu mountain. Nanhu Mountain is a mountain in Taiwan with an elevation of 3,740 m (12,270 ft). It is one of the highest mountains in Taiwan.

Update 04:27 UTC : ER calls this earthquake moderately dangerous mainly because the epicenter is below a wilderness area, otherwise we would call it very dangerous. The earthquake was felt in a wide radius and based on the reports from our readers below, objects fell from shelves in Taipei which illustrates the strength of the shaking.

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/03/07/strong-earthquake-taiwan-on-march-7-2013/

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