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Abstract

The 1604 Quanzhou earthquake occurred offshore southeastern China in the Taiwan Strait and with magnitude estimated ranging from 7.5 to 8.0, which is the largest earthquake observed in the low seismicity zone of the Taiwan strait for the last 400 years. According to literature, this earthquake caused several casualties and severe damage along the coast of southeastern China. Although no document reported the impact of this earthquake on Taiwan, the impact of an earthquake like the 1604 Quanzhou event is of great concern for the region considering the densely populated areas on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In this study, we review the literature and past studies of this earthquake, and we simulate the level of ground shaking through various models based on past studies. Our results show that the 1604 Quanzhou earthquake had a magnitude of Mw 8.1 with maximum slip of 16 - 20 m on an asperity, and with an average stress drop of 10 MPa. The comparison of the simulation to the developed response spectra suggests that this earthquake brought a larger long period motion (< 0.4 Hz) to Taiwan compared to that from the regional recorded crustal earthquakes. The long period motion from an earthquake in this magnitude scale warrants attention regarding seismic hazard mitigation for high-rise buildings for cities across the Taiwan Strait.