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On 12/19/2009 1:02:16 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 and depth 44.6km has struck an highly populated area in the Taiwan Province (population: 22.4 million) in China. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be medium (Orange alert). This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact since the affected region is highly populated and has medium resilience for natural disasters. The earthquake 26km from the city of Hua-lien. The nearest populated places are Chia-lu-lan (17km), Shui-lien (14km). It is a mountainous region with a maximum altitude of 3702 m.
Caution: this information is based on risk models. Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an
expert.
This report was automatically updated by a computer on: 12/19/2009 1:21:45 PM UTC (19 minutes after the event) Downloads: Word report, PDF report Explanation of alert calculation: Show |
Earthquake epicentre: best estimate |
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Geological map
Characteristics for this report
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Previous reports for this earthquake.
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The population in the area of this earthquake if 39 people/kmē. (Data source).
The earthquake occurred at 21h local time. At this time a day, more people are at home and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing residential buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.
| Population Data | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radius (km) | Population | Density (people/kmē) |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | 6543 | 5 |
| 50 | 311425 | 39 |
| 100 | 706326 | 22 |
| 200 | 22658790 | 180 |
The affected region has low level of urban area (0%) and a high level of cultivated area (18.4%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)
| Radius (km) | urban areas | cultivated areas | other |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 0.04% | 18.46% | 81.48% |
| 100 | 0% | 17.63% | 82.36% |
| 50 | 0% | 7.33% | 92.66% |
| 10 | 0% | 0% | 1000% |
Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.
China has a GDP per capita of 768 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the medium level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of medium resilience.
Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes China a medium vulnerability.
| ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for China | |
|---|---|
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| Overall situation | |
| Human Development |
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| Human Poverty |
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| Exposure to Major Disasters | |
| Natural Disasters |
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| Conflicts |
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| Humanitarian effects of population movement | |
| Refugees |
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| Internally Displaced People |
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| Health and Nutrition | |
| Undernourishment |
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| Mortality rates |
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| Donor contributions | |
| Official Development assistance |
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Source ECHO Key:
Bad -
Medium -
Good -
No data | |
Both conditions for survival and conditions for delivering aid strongly depend on the current weather and temperature. The following graphs show the current and forecast weather.
Current weather conditions and forecasts at earthquake location (lat: 23.7634 - long: 121.6885) (Data source).
More detailed observations at closest weather station (Hualien): WeatherByWeb - NOAA
Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 66.965%
and the maximum altitude is 3702 m. Since this is a high
slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is high.
Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while
landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological
conditions. More...
The following critical infrastructure is nearby and could be affected by the earthquake:
Nuclear power plants:
There are no nuclear facilities nearby the epicenter.
Hydrodams:
The following hydrodam installations are near the epicenter: (169km), KUOSHENG (162km), LUNG-MEI (73km)
The distance to nuclear installations is evaluated based on a 1999 UN dataset containing the location of nuclear plants in the world. If plants are near and the earthquake magnitude is above 6.5, the alert is set to orange. Note that the location of plants is approximate with errors of up to 100km.
The nearest civilian airport (Hualien) is at 30km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Orchid Island (193km), Kaohsiung International (190km), Green Island (123km), Pingtung South (174km), Pingtung North (171km), Tso Ying (186km), Feng Nin (127km), Kangshan (182km), Taitung (120km), Highway Strip 331 334 (173km), Tainan (176km), Kuei Jen (168km), Highway Strip 296 298 (158km), Chiayi (136km), Highway Strip 260 (133km), Sun Moon Lake (78km), Highway Strip 206 (124km), Hualien (30km), Taichung (115km), Lishan (72km), Ching Chuan Kang Ab (122km), Yonaguni (152km), (108km), Hsinchu (140km), Lung Tan (130km), Ao Hu Kou (140km), Pa Kuei (136km), Highway Strip 58 60 (142km), Taoyuan (151km), Sungshan (146km), Chiang Kai Shek International (153km)
Ports nearby are: Lan Yu Island (191km), Kaohsiung (194km), Tai Tung (130km), An Ping Chiang (178km), Tai Nan (161km), Hualien (26km), Taichung (131km), Suao (95km), Keelung (chilung) (153km), Tan Shui (161km)
While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.
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Population
Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 6x4 decimal
degrees (approx. 650x450km2).
previous estimates: 
12/19/2009 1:02:16 PM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)