1. The Earthquake at Dawn

On April 21, 1935, at 6:02 AM, the Hsinchu-Taichung earthquake struck with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was located in Sanyi, Miaoli, which is present-day Taiwan. The Houli and Qingshui areas in today's Taichung suffered the most severe damage. Ultimately, the earthquake caused the deaths of over 3,000 people and injured more than 10,000, making it the deadliest natural disaster in Taiwan's recorded history.

According to the "Taiwan Earthquake Record" published by the Government-General of Taiwan in 1936, at 6:02 AM on April 21, 1935, a tremendous ground rumble was heard from southern Hsinchu Prefecture to northern Taichung Prefecture, followed by a powerful earthquake. The epicenter was located approximately 3 kilometers southeast of Mount Guandaoshan in southern Hsinchu Prefecture, around the middle reaches of the Da'an River. Areas such as Ta-Hu in Hsinchu Prefecture, Miaoli, Fengyuan, and Dajia in Taichung Prefecture experienced ground displacements, indicating the extensive impact of the earthquake.

Figure 1 Map of Damage from the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake
Source: Map of Damage from the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake, Yang Zhao-jia Collection (LJK), 1935, Digital Collection of Archives of Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.
 

Figure 2 Taiwan Shinminpo reporting the disastrous situations in various regions in an extra edition format.
Source: Taiwan Earthquake Part 1, Yang Zhao-jia Collection (LJK), 1935, Digital Collection of Archives of Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.

2. Official Disaster Statistics

Following the failure of private immigration undertakings by the Kadagumi, the Government-General of Taiwan turned it into a public venture in 1910, recruiting immigrant farmers from Japan and establishing the government-run “Yoshino Immigrant Village” in Hualien. Reasons behind promoting immigration included relief of pressure on growing population and limited rural resources in mainland Japan. Hence, rewards were offered for immigrants from the farming sector. Moreover, increasing Japanese settlers in Taiwan would facilitate colonial rule and foster assimilation of the Taiwanese. In addition, experience accumulated in Taiwan would better prepare Japan for future advances into the tropical area.

According to the "Taiwan Earthquake Chronicle" issued by the Government-General of Taiwan in March 1936, the total number of fatalities was 3,279, with the majority being indigenous Taiwanese. The number of injured was nearly 12,000. Due to the seismic vulnerability of rural Taiwanese buildings, the disaster caused considerable devastation, with nearly 18,000 households completely destroyed. Those whose homes collapsed were forced to live outdoors or in temporary shelters.

From the maps depicting the extent of housing damage and casualties from the earthquake, it is observed that the damage to buildings in Hsinchu Prefecture was particularly severe, although the number of casualties was relatively low. This might be attributed to the habit of early rising among the Hakka people in Hsinchu, who had already evacuated from their homes by the time the second tremor occurred at 6:25 AM.

3. Private Document Records

Yang Zhao-jia (楊肇嘉), a resident of Qingshui in Taichung, witnessed the severe devastation in his hometown following the earthquake. According to his memoirs, upon seeing the dire situation in Qingshui, he immediately wrote "Qingshui Completely Destroyed" on his business card and urged District Magistrate Mitsutomi to return to Taichung promptly. Yang Zhaojia subsequently assisted in official investigations, accompanying Governor-General Kenzo Nakagawa, Chamberlain Sukemasa Irie, and Vice-Minister Heigoro Sakurai on inspections. From the earthquake's onset through the rescue and reconstruction phases, he actively participated and left behind a valuable collection of over 200 photographs. These records not only document his hometown of Qingshui in Taichung but also the conditions in Wuchi, Shalu, Sanyi, Houli, Shi-Gang, Zhuolan, Jhudong, Jhunan, Fengyuan, Shengang, Xinzuang, and Tunzijiao, among other places affected by the disaster.

Diary entries written by those who experienced the earthquake provide genuine records of the disaster scene, capturing the emotions and experiences of that time. In a diary stored at our institution, Huang Wang-cheng (黃旺成), a journalist for Taiwan Minpo during the Japanese colonial period and an activist involved in the Taiwan Cultural Association, recorded the following on the day of the earthquake:

"I woke up exceptionally early this morning, brushing my teeth by the well at 6:02 AM when suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound, swirling around me. I couldn't stand steady on my feet—it was a major earthquake. The whole family panicked and fled to the deep well. After about twenty minutes, as I was clearing the dust from the shaken bookshelf, another strong tremor came, roaring like a bull, causing roofs to collapse and ashes to fall everywhere. Everything was overturned, walls and doors were dangerously close to collapsing. We were all at a loss, too scared to stay indoors, so we moved to the deep well, our hearts still trembling... Today's epicenter was at Da'an River in Miaoli, where more than six hundred people died, and over a thousand households were almost completely destroyed..."In this passage, the mention of "roaring like a bull" indicates that strong earthquakes are often accompanied by ground rumblings.

In another entry, Lin Hsien-tang (林獻堂) from Wufeng documented the situation of his relatives affected by the disaster, including collapsed brick houses, shattered tiles, damaged cars, and injuries from falling. He also mentioned, "...there were light tremors more than ten times throughout the day, and at night, I dared not sleep indoors. Yet, I alone managed to sleep soundly."

Figure 7 April 21, 1935 Diary of Huang Wang-cheng
Source: 1935 The diary of Wang-cheng, Huang Wang-cheng and Huang Ji-tu Papers (T0765), 1935, Digital Collection of Archives of Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica.