The number of earthquakes recorded in Taiwan in the first three months of the year exceeded the annual averages for the previous three years, due mainly to aftershocks from the Feb. 6 Hualien quake, the Central Weather Bureau said.
Between January and last month, there were 601 earthquakes in Taiwan, while the annual average from 2015 to last year was 564, bureau data showed on Saturday.
Of the 601 earthquakes recorded in the first three month of the year, 76 were categorized as major or significant, bureau Seismology Center section head Lin Tzu-wei (林祖慰) said.
The high number of earthquakes so far this year is due mainly to the numerous aftershocks from the magnitude 6.0 quake in February, Lin said.
“We saw a record number of [500] earthquakes in February,” of which 66 were categorized as significant, Lin said.
However, seismic activity gradually subsided last month, indicating that the sequence of the Feb. 6 earthquake has ended and significant fault movement in the area is unlikely in the near future, he said.
A number of magnitude 4.0 or higher earthquakes were recorded across Taiwan last month, but the number was within the normal range and the quakes were not related to the Hualien earthquake, Lin said.
The number of quakes recorded in Taiwan was 549 in 2015, 678 in 2016 and 465 last year, bureau data show.
Information released on Saturday by the Central Geological Survey showed that the Hualien quake, which took 17 lives, originated from a fault line under the ocean about 13km northeast of the epicenter in downtown Hualien.
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