The China Earthquake Networks officially determined that an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 occurred in the waters of Taitung County, Taiwan Province (23.45 degrees north latitude, 121.55 degrees east longitude) at 1:41 on March 23, with a focal depth of 20 kilometers.
The Taiwan Meteorological Department said that since 1:00 on the 23rd, multiple earthquakes occurred in the Huadong area of Taiwan, which were felt throughout Taiwan, causing injuries and bridge damage.
According to the latest information from the Taiwan Meteorological Department, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale occurred at 1:41 a.m. on the 23rd, with a depth of 30.6 kilometers. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred with the epicenter in Fengbin Township, Hualien County.
According to reports from local fire stations, the earthquake has caused one person to be hospitalized with minor injuries in Changbin Township, Taitung, and power outages in some areas.
The Taiwan Meteorological Department also monitored that there were 5 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or higher in the early morning of the 23rd.
Chen Guochang, director of the Earthquake Prediction Center of the Taiwan Meteorological Department, said in an interview with local media that the 6.6-magnitude earthquake was the main shock, followed by a 6.1-magnitude aftershock.
In the early hours of this morning, 8 earthquakes occurred in succession in Taiwan, of which the 6.6-magnitude earthquake that occurred at 1:41 was the largest. The Taiwan Meteorological Department said that the 6.6-magnitude earthquake was not only the largest this year, but also the fourth largest earthquake in Taiwan’s main island or coastal areas after the “921 Earthquake”.
According to Taiwan media reports, the staff of TSMC, UMC, Nanmao and other semiconductor factories are all safe, and only some sensitive machines are down. Among them, in the Southern Science Park part, some machines of Innolux’s 2 factories were down, but it was finally confirmed that there was no impact.
Affected by the earthquake, the Yuxing Bridge in Yuli Township, Hualien is being widened. It is reported that the bridge broke and collapsed, and a boom truck under the bridge was crushed on the spot.
Li Zongren, director of the Suhua Reconstruction Engineering Department of the construction unit, said that due to the impact of the earthquake, the newly completed I-beam rolled over and fractured. 28 of the beams were tipped and fractured. Since it was not easy to perform bridge safety inspections at night, it was decided to initiate temporary diversion measures.

In addition, a rice milling factory in Yuancheng, Yuli Town, was shaken and skewed, and no one was trapped. The police had blocked the scene first.
The Tai-30 Yu-Chang Highway, which connects Yuli, Hualien, and Changbin, Taitung, was also affected by the earthquake, with a 100-meter-long crack.

A monitor screen shared by a Hualien netizen showed that in the clothing store that was closed in the early morning, everything was originally standing still, but suddenly all the clothes began to shake from side to side, and the shaking became larger and larger, it felt like someone was grabbing the hanger. Shaking violently, after 13 seconds of violent shaking, the entire row was shaken to the ground.

Some netizens also shared that they were playing in a bowling alley when the earthquake occurred, and the sudden violent shaking made everyone run back to their seats immediately, and the pet dog in the cart also kept shaking with the ground, looking very restless.