The 1904 Douliu earthquake was a magnitude

Richter magnitude scale

The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....

 6.1 earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 which struck central Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 at 04:25 on November 6, 1904. The quake caused widespread damage and killed 145 people, making it the fifth deadliest earthquake of the 20th century in Taiwan.

Technical details

At 04:25 of the morning of November 6, 1904, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake centred on the town of Xingang

Xingang, Chiayi

Xingang is a rural township in Chiayi County, Taiwan. It has a population of 35,173 and an area of 66.0495 square kilometres.-External links:*...

, Chiayi County

Chiayi County

Chiayi County is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. Its historical name in Taiwanese Hokkien derives from Tsirosen in the Formosan languages...

 shook towns in present-day Yunlin County

Yunlin County

Yunlin County is a county in the western part of Taiwan, the Republic of China. Yunlin is located to the right of the Taiwan Strait, the east of Nantou County and sharing a border with Changhua County divided by the Zhuoshui River. Yunlin is one of the counties of Taiwan that is part of the Chianan...

, Chiayi County, and Tainan City. Despite the relatively light magnitude, the shallow depth of the temblor (7 km) coupled with the fact that it struck in a populated area meant that casualties were heavier than might be expected.

The earthquake was one of the first major quakes in Taiwan to be monitored using seismographs introduced by the Japanese. This enabled government officials to pinpoint the magnitude, epicentre and hypocentre of the earthquake with more accuracy than ever before.

The quake was felt throughout the island, and Japanese officials recorded sandblasting and soil liquefaction

Soil liquefaction

Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other sudden change in stress condition, causing it to behave like a liquid....

 at several sites in the affected area.

Damage

According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau

Central Weather Bureau

The Central Weather Bureau is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the Republic of China . In addition to meteorology, the Central Weather Bureau also makes astronomical observations, reports on sea conditions, and conducts research into seismology and provides...

, there were 145 deaths, with 50 people seriously injured and 107 people less seriously injured. As a result of the quake 590 dwellings were completely destroyed, while a further 1,085 dwellings were partially destroyed. The cost of damage was assessed at the time as ¥

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

105,155 (1904 Japanese yen). The worst affected area was Xingang Subprefecture (in present-day Jiayi County), where 85 of the deaths occurred.