TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hit New Taipei on Sunday at 8:36 p.m., according to the Central Weather Administration.
The quake’s epicenter was 35.8 kilometers east-southeast of New Taipei City Hall, with a focal depth of 95.7 km.
The strongest shaking, measuring Level 3 on Taiwan’s intensity scale, was recorded in Yilan, New Taipei, Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Hualien, Taichung, and Miaoli.
Level 2 shaking was reported in Keelung, Hsinchu, Nantou, Changhua, and Yunlin.
Level 1 shaking was felt in Taitung, Chiayi, and Tainan.
Taiwan uses a scale of 0 to 7 to measure an earthquake’s intensity at a specific location.
The CWA said the earthquake occurred in the subduction zone where the Philippine Sea Plate descends beneath the Eurasian Plate and was not associated with an active fault. Basin amplification made the tremor feel particularly strong in Taipei and New Taipei.
Over the past decade, three earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater have occurred in the same area near Shuangxi District in New Taipei. The most recent was a magnitude 5.3 quake on March 13, 2019, at a depth of 138 kilometers.
The CWA also noted that two earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater have struck the broader area east of Yilan in recent years: a magnitude 7 quake on Dec. 27, 2025, and a magnitude 6.1 quake on May 1, 2026.