What Happened Off Taiwan’s Northeast Coast
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Taiwan at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicentre was located at sea, 39.4 kilometres east-northeast of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 119.5 kilometres.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake was felt across a wide area of Taiwan. The CWA said the earthquake’s intensity was highest in parts of Yilan and Hualien, where it measured a 3 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. An intensity of 2 was recorded across most of northern, eastern and central Taiwan, as well as in Tainan, the agency said.
Key Takeaways
- A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeast coast at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
- The epicentre was at sea, 39.4 kilometres east-northeast of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 119.5 kilometres.
- There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, with shaking strongest in parts of Yilan and Hualien.
Where the Shaking Was Felt
The reported pattern of shaking tells an important part of the story. The strongest shaking, at intensity 3, was recorded in parts of Yilan and Hualien, the two counties closest to the offshore epicentre on Taiwan’s east coast. From there, the shaking spread widely: an intensity of 2 was measured across most of northern, eastern and central Taiwan, and as far south as Tainan.
That wide footprint is consistent with the quake’s depth. At 119.5 kilometres below the surface, this was a deep earthquake, and deep earthquakes often spread their shaking over a broader area than shallow ones of similar magnitude, even when the shaking at any one place is moderate. In this case, the highest reported intensity was 3 on Taiwan’s seven-tier scale, a level at which shaking is felt by many people but is generally not expected to cause serious damage.
The offshore location also matters. With the epicentre at sea, east-northeast of Yilan County Hall, the quake’s energy had to travel through the crust before reaching towns and cities on land. That distance, combined with the depth, helps explain why the event was widely felt without immediate reports of harm.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Why Taiwan Feels Earthquakes Often
Taiwan sits in one of the world’s most seismically active regions, where tectonic plates meet and push against each other. Earthquakes are therefore a familiar part of life on the island, and Taiwan’s monitoring network is built to measure them quickly: the Central Weather Administration reports the time, location, depth and intensity of each event so that the public and emergency services know what happened within minutes.
That reporting system is what produced the details of Sunday’s quake: the 4:20 p.m. time, the offshore position relative to Yilan County Hall, the 119.5-kilometre depth, and the county-by-county intensity readings. Each of those numbers answers a different question. Magnitude describes the size of the earthquake itself. Depth describes how far below the surface it began. Intensity describes how strongly the ground actually shook in a particular place, which is why one earthquake can produce different intensity readings in Yilan, Hualien, Taipei and Tainan.
Readers following earthquake news in the region will recognise the pattern from other recent events. A deep magnitude 6 earthquake off Japan was also reported with no tsunami threat and no immediate reports of damage, while a magnitude 6.4 earthquake near Easter Island and the magnitude 5.2 earthquake in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush showed how the same basic measurements — magnitude, depth, location and felt intensity — frame every quake report.
- Magnitude 5.6, at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026
- Epicentre at sea, 39.4 kilometres east-northeast of Yilan County Hall
- Depth of 119.5 kilometres, with intensity 3 in parts of Yilan and Hualien
- Intensity 2 across most of northern, eastern and central Taiwan, and in Tainan
- No immediate reports of damage or injuries
What to Watch Next
For now, the confirmed picture is a widely felt offshore earthquake with no immediate reports of damage or injuries, strongest in parts of Yilan and Hualien and felt at a lower intensity across much of the rest of Taiwan. What matters next is whether any later reports change that picture: any damage or injury reports that emerge after the initial assessment, and any further information from the Central Weather Administration about the event. Until such reports appear, the initial assessment stands — a magnitude 5.6 quake, deep and offshore, felt widely but without immediate harm reported.