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The 2018 Mw 6.4 Hualien earthquake generated a large peak-to-peak velocity of over 2 m/s, with a period of 3 s at the south end of the Milun fault, which resulted in the collapse of five buildings. To investigate the shallow subsurface soil structure and evaluate possible effects on the ground motion and building damage, we performed microtremor measurements in the Hualien basin. Based on the velocity structure jointly inverted from both Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves and microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio data, we found that the shallow subsurface structure generally deepens from west to east. Close to the Milun fault, the structure becomes shallower, which is consistent with faulting during the 2018 earthquake and the long-term tectonic displacement. There is no significant variation for the site conditions in the north–south direction that can explain the large peak ground velocity in the south. As a result of the dense measurements in the heavily damaged area, where three high-rise buildings totally collapsed, these locations have the average S-wave velocity of the upper 30 m (AVS30) values and are relatively high compared to the more distant area from the Meilun River. This is somewhat unusual, because lower AVS30 values indicating softer ground conditions are expected close to the river. We did not find any characteristic subsurface soil structure that may contribute to the building collapses. The large 3 s pulse was probably generated by source effects, rather than subsurface soil amplification.

We propose a methodology to implement horizontal-to-vertical Fourier spectral ratios (HVRs) evaluated from strong ground motion induced by earthquake (EHVRs) or ambient ground motion observed from microtremor (MHVRs) individually and simultaneously with the spatial correlation (SC) in a ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) to improve the prediction accuracy of site effects. We illustrated the methodology by developing an EHVRs-SC-based model which supplements Vs30 and Z1.0 with the SC and EHVRs collected at strong motion stations, and a MHVRs-SC-based model that supplements Vs30 and Z1.0 with the SC and MHVRs observed from microtremors at sites which were collocated with strong motion stations. The standard deviation of the station-specific residuals can be reduced by up to 90% when the proposed models are used to predict site effects. In the proposed models, the spatial distribution of the predicted station terms for peak ground acceleration (PGA) from MHVRs at 3699 sites is consistent with that of the predicted station terms for PGA from EHVRs at 721 strong motion stations. Prediction accuracy for stations with inferred Vs30 is similar to that of stations with measured Vs30 with the proposed models. This study provides a methodology to simultaneously implement SC and EHVRs, or SC and MHVRs in a GMPE to improve the prediction accuracy of site effects for a target site with available EHVRs or MHVRs information.

The high-frequency decay parameter kappa (κ) was computed by fitting Fourier amplitude spectra from the seismic network of the Taiwan Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (TSMIP). The κ of shear horizontal waves (SH waves) was calculated for individual recordings, and the relationship between κ values and the epicentral distance (Repi) of each station was derived for each station. The κ value at Repi = 0 (denoted as κ0) can be used as a site parameter. There are totally 26,277 seismograms that have been recorded at 679 TSMIP stations over the period of 1993 through 2014 with local magnitudes of 4.0–7.1 and focal depths less than 30 km. The estimation of κ0 for Taiwan ranges from 0.0208 to 0.147 s, and the spatial distribution of κ0 was closely related to geology and velocity. The site-specific κ0 values from 425 stations were correlated with the averaged shear wave velocity of the top 30 m of strata (VS30), and the relationship could be described as κ0 = (0.125 ± 0.005) − (0.011 ± 0.001) × ln(VS30), and an acceptable linear correlation (R2 = 0.57) was performed. The results may be used in the future application of ground motion prediction equations (GPMEs) and serve as simulation parameters. Also, the relationship between κ0 and the depth to engineering rock (Z1.0) is not well correlated, whereas an acceptable correlation exists between κ0 and other site proxies (i.e., elevation and resonant frequency).

Broadband seismometers, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and magnetometers that were located within an epicentral distance of approximately 150 km consistently observed the novel anomalous behaviors of the common-mode ground vibrations approximately 5–10 days before the M6.6 Meinong earthquake in Taiwan. The common-mode ground vibrations with amplitudes near 0.1 m at frequencies ranging from 8 × 10−5 to 2 × 10−4 Hz were generated near the region close to the epicenter of the impending earthquake. The common-mode vibrations were consistently observed in seismic and GNSS data associated with five other earthquakes in four distinct areas. The results reveal that the common-mode vibrations could be a typical behavior before earthquakes. The causal mechanism of common-mode vibrations can be attributed to crustal resonance excitations before fault dislocations occur. Potential relationships with other pre-earthquake anomalies suggest that the common-mode vibrations could be ground motion before earthquakes, which was investigated for a significant length of time.

This study analyzed site effects including PGA and empirical transfer functions at 15 selected surface–downhole stations by using ground motion recordings of earthquakes with ML > 4 during 2012 and 2013 in Taiwan. In addition, we used all strong motion recordings of four large earthquakes (ML > 6) to generate intensity distribution maps and assess the differences in magnitude at the surface and downhole. The site amplification factors of the PGA were calculated using the ratio between the surface and downhole recordings. The mean PGA amplification factors ranged from 2 to an exaggerated value of 20 at different stations. In addition, the power law relationships between the PGAs at the surface and downhole were evaluated to understand how amplification varies as PGA increases. Strong ground motions with and without site effects throughout Taiwan could be observed by comparing intensity distribution maps generated using the surface and downhole accelerations from four large earthquakes with magnitudes > 6. Empirical transfer functions derived using the single-station and two-station methods at the same stations showed comparable dominant frequencies and amplification factors; however, the empirical transfer function derived using the two-station method showed clearer resonance peaks, not only at fundamental frequencies but also at higher mode resonance frequencies. The HHSR and the HVSR were highly similar, particularly at medium frequencies. This finding indicates that the HVSR can be used instead of the HHSR when only the surface recording is available. Moreover, the local magnitudes calculated using surface recordings were higher than those calculated using downhole recordings. The differences are attributed to the amplification caused by the sedimentary layers and resultant in 0.36, 0.46 and 0.49 on average for events with ML of > 6, 5–6, and 4–5. Furthermore, HHSRs at 5–10 Hz and 1.1–1.7 Hz were strongly correlated with PGA amplifications and ML differences, respectively.

On February 12, 2014, an ML 4.2 earthquake (named 0212 EQ) occurred at the Tatun Volcano Group (TVG) in northern Taiwan. Seismic data from both the regional broadband array in Taiwan and a local dense seismic network in the TVG indicate that the 0212 EQ was located at a depth of 4.3 km near Shamoshan, one of the latest eruptive units in the TVG. Referring to the aftershocks surrounding the 0212 EQ, we further found that (1) they formed a linear seismic zone dipping ∼50° towards the southeast to reach the Shanchiao Fault that cuts through the TVG, (2) focal mechanism of more than half of the larger aftershocks (MD ≥ 1.5) matched this linear seismic zone for a normal faulting, and (3) the seismic b-value was calculated to be 3.55. They are used to delineate the geometry of the Shanchiao Fault at the upper crust and to infer that localized geothermal fluid might have affected the activity of aftershocks as manifested by the very high seismic b-value. The strongly compensated linear vector dipole of the centroid moment tensor suggests the 0212 EQ had a non-double-couple source resulted from the gravitational collapse. Thus, we conclude that the 0212 EQ was a combined synergistic effect of a collapsed reservoir filled with volcanic fluids and faulting activities along the Shanchiao Fault.

Long-period pulse-like strong ground motions were recorded near the Milun fault and caused serious building damages in the Hualien City during the main shock of the 2018 Hualien, Taiwan, earthquake. In this paper, questionnaire survey on feeling of shaking, indoor damages, structural, and nonstructural damages to high-rise reinforced concrete residential buildings were analyzed by three building groups according to the positions to the Milun fault and different site conditions. Relationships between the results of questionnaire survey on building damages and characteristics of strong ground motions were studied. Furthermore, a characterized seismic source model was proposed to elucidate the generation mechanism of near-fault long-period strong ground motions. In this model, a shallow strong motion generation area (SMGA7) in the south part of Milun fault with rise-time of 2.6 s contributed to the long-period pulse-like strong ground motions. Besides, a deep SMGA (SMGA8) under the SMGA7 with rise-time of 1.2 s also contributed to the strong ground motions. Using this model, strong ground motions at the sites of buildings for questionnaire survey were synthesized. Because of the directivity effects, amplitudes of ground motions were increased from north to south along the Milun fault, which can explain the serious building damages at the buildings located at the southwest to the Milun fault. The reasons of building damages were also examined from the aspect of predominant periods of ground sites and fundamental periods of buildings, which were extracted from microtremor measurement. Damages at the buildings located on the central part of the hanging wall with relatively good site condition were the lightest for almost all the surveyed items. Pulses with period in the range of 1 s–2 s which were generated by the SMGA8 and amplified by the near surface layers are considered to be responsible for building damages.

In this study, an empirical transfer function (ETF), which is the spectrum difference in Fourier amplitude spectra between observed strong ground motion and synthetic motion obtained by a stochastic point-source simulation technique, is constructed for the Taipei Basin, Taiwan. The basis stochastic point-source simulations can be treated as reference rock site conditions in order to consider site effects. The parameters of the stochastic point-source approach related to source and path effects are collected from previous well-verified studies. A database of shallow, small-magnitude earthquakes is selected to construct the ETFs so that the point-source approach for synthetic motions might be more widely applicable. The high-frequency synthetic motion obtained from the ETF procedure is site-corrected in the strong site-response area of the Taipei Basin. The site-response characteristics of the ETF show similar responses as in previous studies, which indicates that the base synthetic model is suitable for the reference rock conditions in the Taipei Basin. The dominant frequency contour corresponds to the shape of the bottom of the geological basement (the top of the Tertiary period), which is the Sungshan formation. Two clear high-amplification areas are identified in the deepest region of the Sungshan formation, as shown by an amplification contour of 0.5 Hz. Meanwhile, a high-amplification area was shifted to the basin’s edge, as shown by an amplification contour of 2.0 Hz. Three target earthquakes with different kinds of source conditions, including shallow small-magnitude events, shallow and relatively large-magnitude events, and deep small-magnitude events relative to the ETF database, are tested to verify site correction. The results indicate that ETF-based site correction is effective for shallow earthquakes, even those with higher magnitudes, but is not suitable for deep earthquakes. Finally, one of the most significant shallow large-magnitude earthquakes (the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan) is verified in this study. A finite fault stochastic simulation technique is applied, owing to the complexity of the fault rupture process for the Chi-Chi earthquake, and the ETF-based site-correction function is multiplied to obtain a precise simulation of high-frequency (up to 10 Hz) strong motions. The high-frequency prediction has good agreement in both time and frequency domain in this study, and the prediction level is the same as that predicted by the site-corrected ground motion prediction equation.

In this study, microtremor array measurements were conducted at 45 sites in the Western Plain of Taiwan. The arrays were approximately 30 m or 60 m in radius, depending on the site. The maximum-likelihood frequency–wavenumber method was adopted to obtain the phase velocities of Rayleigh waves, and then a genetic algorithm technique based on an inversion scheme of the fundamental mode of the Rayleigh waves’ dispersion curves was applied to calculate a preliminary S-wave velocity (Vs) profile at each site. Because a layer of thick sediment covers the bedrock in the Western Plain of Taiwan, microtremor arrays in this size range cannot estimate the structure of the entire sediment. Therefore, this study implemented further inversion of the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios of the microtremors to estimate the deeper structures up to the bedrock of Vs greater than 1000 m/s. Previously logged velocity profiles for different depths at or near our study sites were collected and compared with the Vs profiles derived from our microtremor array measurements; the results were found to be highly comparable. Therefore, we could delineate the depth distributions for the layer depths for Vs = 600 m/s and 1000 m/s in this region. The depth for Vs = 600 m/s is approximately 50 m in the piedmont area and approximately 300 m at the coastline; moreover, the depths for Vs = 1000 m/s increase from 200 m in the piedmont area to approximately 1000 m at the coastline. The depths for Vs = 1.0 km/s (Z1.0), which is an important parameter that accounts for the basin effect in recent ground motion prediction equations, are consequently available at the study sites. The distribution of Z1.0 as a function of Vs30 indicates higher similarity to that in Japan than in the San Francisco Bay area.

The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan has developed an on-site earthquake early warning system (NEEWS). The Meinong earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.53 and a focal depth of 14.6 km occurred on 5 February 2016 in southern Taiwan. It caused 117 deaths, injured 551, caused the collapse of six buildings, and serious damage to 247 buildings. During the Meinong earthquake, the system performance of 16 NEEWS stations was recorded. Based on a preassigned peak ground acceleration (PGA) threshold to issue alarms at different stations, no false alarms or missed alarms were issued during the earthquake. About 4 s to 33 s of lead time were provided by the NEEWS depending on the epicenter distance. In addition, the directivity of the earthquake source characteristic and also possibly the site effects were observed in the diagram of the distribution of PGA difference between the predicted PGA and the measured PGA.

On 5 February 2016, a moderate earthquake occurred in southwestern Taiwan with M L 6.4 and a focal depth of 16.7 km. This earthquake caused damage to a few buildings and 117 casualties. A low‐cost earthquake early warning (EEW) system ( P ‐alert) is in operation for the purpose of EEW and for providing near‐real‐time shake maps. During this event, a detailed shaking map was generated by the P ‐alert system within 2 min after the earthquake occurrence, and the high shaking regions strongly correlated with the locations in which the damage and casualties occurred. In the field, individual P ‐alert devices also serve as onsite EEW systems using P ‐wave information. The individual P ‐alert provided a 4–8 s lead time before the arrival of violent shaking in the damaged regions. For regional EEW, both the Central Weather Bureau (CWB, official agency) and the P ‐alert system responded very well. Currently, regional warnings in Taiwan are only provided to cities at epicentral distances of 50 km or more by the CWB. For cities within a 50‐km epicentral distance, the P ‐alert system could be useful for providing onsite EEW. The performance of the P ‐alert network during this earthquake proves the efficiency of this real‐time, low‐cost network in terms of early warning (regional and onsite), near‐real‐time shake maps, rapid reports, and strong‐motion data for research purposes.

This study used the results from 45 microtremor array measurements to construct a shallow shear wave velocity structure in the western plain of Taiwan. We constructed a complete 3D velocity model based on shallow and tomography models for our numerical simulation. There are three major subsurfaces, engineering bedrock (V_S = 600 m s^(-1)), Pliocene formation and Miocene formation, constituted in the shallow model. The constant velocity is given in each subsurface. We employed a 3D-FD (finite-differences) method to simulate seismic wave propagation in the western plain. The aim of this study was to perform a quantitative comparison of site amplifications and durations obtained from empirical data and numerical modelling in order to obtain the shallow substructure soil response. Modelling clearly revealed that the shallow substructure plays an important role in strong ground motion prediction using 3D simulation. The results show significant improvements in effective shaking duration and the peak ground velocity (PGV) distribution in terms of the accuracy achieved by our developed model. We recommend a high-resolution shallow substructure as an essential component in future seismic hazard analyses.

Hazards from gravity-driven instabilities on hillslope (termed ‘landquake’ in this study) are an important problem facing us today. Rapid detection of landquake events is crucial for hazard mitigation and emergency response. Based on the real-time broadband data in Taiwan, we have developed a near real-time landquake monitoring system, which is a fully automatic process based on waveform inversion that yields source information (e.g., location and mechanism) and identifies the landquake source by examining waveform fitness for different types of source mechanisms. This system has been successfully tested offline using seismic records during the passage of the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan and has been in online operation during the typhoon season in 2015. In practice, certain levels of station coverage (station gap 106 m3 and area > 0.20 km2) are required to ensure good performance (fitness > 0.6 for successful source identification) of the system, which can be readily implemented in other places in the world with real-time seismic networks and high landquake activities.