A 7.2-magnitude tremor struck Taiwan on April 3 at 07:58am. It is officially known as the 2024 Hualien Earthquake, after the site of its epicenter, the eastern Taiwanese region of Hualien that sits on the Pacific coast. The seismic event is a testament to Taiwanese resilience, with most folks heading to work that day after being shaken awake. Equipped with rescue helicopters and sniffer dogs, a coalition of government and civilian first responders immediately sprung to action.
The strongest quake to rattle the island nation of 23 million in two and a half decades wrought immense environmental and structural damage, particularly in Hualien; it was trailed by thousands of aftershocks, with three scaling above 6 on the Richter scale. Tragically, 18 people lost their lives, and 2 remain missing. Many more are displaced or unable to continue their livelihoods in a region heavily dependent on agriculture and tourism.
A month after the natural disaster, Taiwan grieves as it rebuilds. Here are 26 anecdotes mapping out the impact of the April 3, 2024 quake upon the world’s 21st-largest economy situated upon a convergence of fault lines:
A stands for alert (警報), earthquake alert. Taiwan has a reliable Public Warning System (PWS) that sends automated alerts to mobile users when they’re located in areas where an earthquake of an estimated intensity of 5 or above strikes. There’s also a trending app that sends alerts at a lower threshold than what’s stipulated by PWS, the national warning system. It’s called the Taiwan Earthquake Alert (臺灣地震速報), made by 18-year-old student Lin Tzu-yu (林子祐) based on open data shared by the Central Weather Administration (CWA), the Taiwanese meteorological institute with its own set of alert apps notifying users at a probable 3.
B represents the number of liquor bottles (酒瓶) smashed during the tremor. The Hualien branch of the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. alone reported 16,000 bottles ranging from beer and rice spirits to aged Shaoxing wine were destroyed. Drenched in spilt alcohol, the Hualien brewery-and-warehouse complex was quickly cordoned off to prevent potential ignition; it took a week for operations to recommence. Meanwhile, a store in Hualien tactically adopted the “lying flat (躺平)” approach for displaying its liquor selection amid incessant aftershocks.
C refers to cultural heritage (文化資產): one day after the main quake, the Ministry of Culture published an inventory of 59 sites across the country that were damaged, “comprising 13 national monuments, 17 city monuments, 27 historical buildings, 1 cultural landscape, and 1 settlement structure.” Common structural harm encompassed wide fissures, displaced parts, fallen tiles, collapsed walls, and elevator issues. Fourteen of those injured sites are in Hualien, encompassing the Ji-An Yoshino Shrine (吉安慶修院), which was built in 1917 by Japanese immigrants and houses 88 Buddha statues from Shikoku Island.
D means drones (空拍機), specifically the disaster response technology employed by a 7-member rescue team from Turkey to search for survivors in the demanding topography of Hualien’s calamity-struck areas. International aid also came in the form of donations, with Japan pledging US$1 million and South Korea, Thailand, and Lithuania respectively committing US$500,000, NT$1 million, and 50,000 euros to relief efforts.
E stands for the Eurasian Plate (歐亞板塊), which forms a zone of convergence with the Philippine Sea Plate, giving rise to Taiwan’s reputation as “a world leader in earthquake frequency.” Potential complications from the nearby Manila Trench are also monitored by “observation stations on the seafloor that are connected via submarine cables,” Taiwan Panorama reported last year, noting that “Taiwan averages 100 earthquakes per day,” most unfelt.
F is for security camera footage (監視器畫面), specifically that of a Taiwanese woman’s living room with a violently shaking chandelier during the quake. When the video began circulating on China’s social media and news channels, it was first suspected to be from a hack job, but the woman later clarified that one of her relatives had uploaded the footage onto a family group chat, and it was shared widely from there afterwards. Nonetheless, the privacy risks of China-made surveillance products remain real, as leaked footage from over 700 Taiwanese cams were found on a Chinese website in 2022.
G represents Guishan Island (龜山島), a turtle-shaped volcanic isle protruding off the coast of Yilan County that was purported to have lost its head during the media frenzy that followed the 7.2-magnitude tremor on April 3. Citing the Tourism Bureau, the Taiwan FactCheck Center was quick to point out that “only a tiny amount of rock fell on the scene; the majority of the scenic areas on Guishan Island and the neighboring Yilan Coast area were unaffected.”
H is for harmonic absorbers (阻尼球), giant balls of steel that act as a counterweight to reduce a building’s swaying from seismic activity and high winds. Otherwise known as tuned mass dampers, these orbs safeguard skyscrapers like Taipei 101 by vibrating with the same frequency as the towers they’re suspended from, dispelling potentially disruptive energy. The world’s 11th-tallest building not only has one that weighs 660 metric tons while suspended between the 87th and 92nd floor, it even has a souvenir line of Damper Baby figurines.
I signifies the internet (網路), post-quake access to which was quickly reestablished via an emergency network mobile vehicle that connects to low- and medium-earth orbit satellites. Supported by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and built by the Telecommunications Technology Center, the first-of-its-kind vehicle taps into “asynchronous orbit satellite communication channels to provide emergency communication needs in disaster areas” for both civilians and rescue personnel.
J refers to the Jiji Earthquake of 1999 (集集大地震), a catastrophic midnight temblor measuring 7.3 in magnitude that struck central Taiwan at 1.47am on Sept. 21, 1999, rocking the entire country for 102 seconds straight. It led to 53,661 buildings destroyed and 2,456 lives lost, spurring the adoption of stricter building codes and an overhaul of emergency measures. First responders who now stand by 24/7 have strengthen their coordination with government and civilian units, nationwide disaster drills are held on every Sept. 21, and a memorial museum was established in Taichung to remember the victims and the harsh lessons of the Jiji (also spelled Chi-Chi) quake.
K is reserved for a teacher surnamed Kang (康老師), 32, who lost her life in an attempt to save her pet Cat (貓咪) during the aftermath of the April 3 quake. A resident of the Uranus building in Hualien, she initially escaped unscathed but re-entered the structure when a magnitude-6.5 aftershock tilted Uranus; she was trapped inside and never made it out alive. A total of five cats, Kang’s kitty included, were eventually rescued from the derelict site after much coaxing with snacks and laser pens. A medley of cat meows were also broadcasted to entice the felines into trapping cages.
L is a tribute to Luffy the Excavator (魯夫號), Taiwan’s longest excavator named after the Pirate King contender from the Japanese manga series “One Piece.” Reporting for demolition duty for damaged buildings up to 15 floors high, Luffy has an arm span of 42 meters, scrap shear included. Its operator says the agility and reach of the excavator, which can also be fitted with a hydraulic pulverizer, lives up to its swashbuckling namesake, a stretchy Devil Fruit eater capable of fiery punches. Named after the Sanrio icon, Taiwan’s second-tallest excavator Hello Kitty (凱蒂貓號) can reach up to 8 floors.
M refers to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit, 捷運), northern Taiwan’s metro system that has a five-light system for quakes; when the red light denoting a magnitude of 5 or above blinks, train conductors switch to manual for deceleration. Its elevated yellow (New Taipei Circular Line) branch suffered 11 incidents of rail damage and pillar displacement in the April 3 tremor. The New Taipei City Government stated that it will take at least one year to complete all the fixes. As of May 9, three stations remain shuttered — Qiaohe (橋和, Y13), Zhongyuan (中原, Y14), and Banxin (板新, Y15) — and commuters are ferried between them by free shuttle buses.
N stands for “no thanks (罷了！)” — which was Taipei’s response to Beijing’s insincere offer of aid, as well as Foreign Minister Joseph Wu’s attitude when a CCP official shamelessly abused his United Nations platform by claiming to thank the world for its post-quake outpour of support for Taiwan, a democratic country independent from the CCP’s China. He tweeted: “The #PRC/#CCP cohort is good at saying one thing & doing the opposite […] (angry face emoji) JW”. Wu had quote-tweeted the Taiwanese defense ministry’s update on encroaching Chinese aircrafts and vessels, a recurrent grey-zone tactic aimed at public intimidation and military enervation.
O is for Oriolus traillii ardens (朱鸝), an endemic oriole of the maroon variety that is the county bird of Hualien. Sporting golden irises and wine-red feathers, the strikingly beautiful yet endangered Maroon Oriole was first discovered by Victorian naturalist Robert Swinhoe in the 1850s — he chose the Latin word for “flaming,” ardens, in naming the bird — and it remains a symbol of Taiwan’s unique biodiversity and a reminder that we share our islands with incredible wildlife that encounter the same seismic challenges.
P refers to phantom quake syndrome (地震醉), that eerie sensation of experiencing your own personal earthquake. This false sensation of movement is a type of motion sickness that crops up after the earth shakes and can be severe enough to induce nausea, leading to those afflicted to stumble or even barf. The LA Times noted that incidents were documented in Chile, Japan, and New Zealand after those countries experienced major seismic action. In Japan, it’s known as “earthquake drunk (jishin-yoi).” In Taiwan, the phenomenon is memorialized by a hit song from diva Jody Chiang (江蕙) — “Was that a quake or am I just drunk? (酒醉還是地震).”
Q denotes the abrupt formation of a quake lake (堰塞湖) in Taiwan. Landslides following the April 3 macroseism created a natural dam out of the Mugua River (Yayung Mglu in Truku, 木瓜溪) in Xiulin Township, Hualien that trapped enough water to fill 226 standard swimming pools. A 30-meter-high debris wall is all that stands between the barrier lake’s 430,000 cubic meters and two hydroelectric power plants and two Indigenous settlements located downstream. The situation is being closely monitored by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency.
R stands for Roger, a rescue dog from Kaohsiung that was featured by The New York Times, CNN, and We Rate Dogs for being a very good dog. The boisterous Labrador retriever, 8, failed training as a drug sniffer due to his playful personality, but his boldness paid off in an illustrious search-and-rescue career — seven missions total — that required navigating unfamiliar and complex terrain to find trapped survivors and bodies. Roger will retire at the ripe age of 9 later this year.
S stands for seismic swarms (群震), which follow a different pattern than regular aftershocks. According to the US Geological Survey, “the ‘swarm’ designation is typically applied when we observe relatively many earthquakes within a relatively small area, which just don’t fit the pattern of a mainshock-aftershock sequence.” Over 360 quakes rattled Taiwan within a 24-hour period after the 7.2 temblor of April 3, with the tally at 1,303 shocks by April 27. Some were grouped as swarms because they “did not start with a large event and then decay” but rather “each of those larger earthquakes was followed by their own sequence of smaller aftershocks.”
T denotes Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園), a rugged mountain park in Hualien where over 600 tourists, hotel employees, and miners were trapped when the main temblor hit. Many survived by seeking refuge in reinforced tunnels as landslides “sounding like cracks of thunder” rained down. Rescue workers mobilized excavators to remove giant boulders and air-dropped food supplies to survivors. As of May 9, three remain missing: German academic Ralf Klausnitzer and Australian-Singaporean couple Issac Sim Hwee Kok and Ann Neo Siew Choo.
U is for Uranus (天王星大樓), a quake-wrecked building in Hualien from which 6 chickens, 5 cats, and 2 hamsters were rescued during its thoughtful, controlled dismantlement. Animal lovers not only watched live streams of the 14-day-long demolition to help spot trapped pets, one concerned netizen paid for a food courier to deliver “leafy greens for the chickens” while another individual attempted to tunnel through nearby sewage pipes in a bid to reach Uranus and rescue the trapped fowls.
V denotes velocity (速度), specifically the speed of which the Philippine Sea plate is moving northwest with respect to the Eurasian plate: about 78 mm/year. However, this does not necessarily mean that Taiwan is “drifting apart” from China, as both countries are dictated by the movements of the Eurasian plate. Right now, Taiwan may even be nudged closer to China by the very same tectonic forces, according to the Central Weather Administration.
W stands for the world bull (世界牛), a cosmic buffalo carrying our world on its back, according to the Saisiyat, Bunun, and Amis peoples of Taiwan. Other Formosan Indigenous lore attribute earthquakes to a disgruntled pig (Pazeh), a world fish (Atayal), a giant crab chasing an eel (Tsou), a crippled titan propping up the world (Paiwan, Rukai, Beinan), and disturbance to the earth’s pillars (Bunun, Amis). Today in Taiwan, we say “the subterranean bull stirs again (地牛翻身)” when the ground begins to wobble.
X refers to Xiaqingshui Bridge (下清水橋), a reinforced concrete bridge built in the 1970s that collapsed under a rain of quake-loosen large rocks weighing over 30 tons each. In a brilliant engineering move, an adjacent bridge from 1930 that was erected during the Japanese colonial era was quickly fortified with steel trusses to serve as a temporary pathway reconnecting that portion of the Suhua Highway.
Y symbolizes the yellow daylily (金針花), beautiful and edible flowers that are farmed in the epicenter region Hualien. The Agriculture and Food Agency of Taiwan has launched operation “Hualien’s Recovery Starts from the Heart (從心出花)” promoting such local specialties as rice, tomatoes, squash, camellia oil, melons, and “dragon whiskers (龍鬚菜),” the curly shoots of the trellis-climbing chayote plant. The program name is a play on the Mandarin word “flower (花),” which is an acronym for Hualien (花蓮) and a reference to how the verb “to start (出發)” is pronounced with a Taiwanese twang.
Z is short for “Zero casualty, short operation recovery time, and least impact on customers (人員零傷亡、工廠短期回復運轉、降低客戶營運影響)” — the guiding principles of TSMC’s earthquake management policy. Despite an estimated loss of NT$3 billion (US$92.1 million) from the Hualien quake due to scrapping a portion of in-production wafers and replacement material costs, no power outage or structural damage were observed at any of its plants, and all fabs were fully operational within three days. The world’s biggest chipmaker credits employee training, continuous site improvements, and top-of-the-line anchorage technology for its seismic resilience.
2024 HUALIEN QUAKE: KEY FIGURES
- Casualties: 18 (most due to landslides or falling boulders)
- Unsafe buildings: 51 (excluding 92 damaged but retaining structural integrity)
- Compromised schools: 1,080 (estimated NT$2.96 billion in damages)
- Injured people: 1,155 (excluding 3 missing)
- Agricultural loss: NT$80.8 million (including NT$45.17 million in infrastructure, crop, and land loss for Hualien)
- Foxconn’s donations to the quake relief fund: NT$80 million (Terry Gou also made a donation of NT$60 million, the highest contribution by an individual)
- TSMC’s projected Q2 hit: NT$3 billion (US$92.1 million)
- Cost of repairing Taroko National Park: NT$1 billion (and an estimated NT$2 billion in tourist revenue loss)
- Cost of repairing the New Taipei Circular Line: NT$442 million (excluding a monthly expenditure of NT$15 million to provide shuttle bus services in the interim)
- The Executive Yuan’s post-quake reconstruction package for Hualien: NT$28.55 billion (US$878.6 million)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Earthquake response guidelines by the National Fire Agency
- Hualien quake coverage by Taiwan’s Public Television Service
- Natural disasters and climate reportage by TaiwanPlus
- Post-quake satellite imagery from the Taiwan Space Agency
- Taiwan FactCheck Center’s quake misinformation report
- Talking Taiwan Ep. 281 on Taiwan’s earthquake lessons
- The Central News Agency’s Hualien quake coverage
- The Central Weather Administration’s quake reports
- The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
