On September 20th at 6:56 AM, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred in the Taiwan Strait with a depth of 10 kilometers, and was notably felt in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.
According to the official determination by the China Earthquake Networks Center, the epicenter of this earthquake was located at 24.46 degrees north latitude and 119.24 degrees east longitude. It was approximately 119 kilometers from Taiwan and 67 kilometers from Shishi City in Fujian, 77 kilometers from Huian County in Fujian, 78 kilometers from Jinjiang City in Fujian, 78 kilometers from Luojiang District in Quanzhou City in Fujian, 80 kilometers from Fengze District in Quanzhou City in Fujian, and 73 kilometers from Quanzhou City in Fujian, as well as 183 kilometers from Fuzhou City.
Many netizens in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Putian in Fujian, and Meizhou in Guangdong left comments saying that they felt the earthquake distinctly, with some even being woken up directly by the shaking.
Some said, “I was woken up directly, the sound of cabinets hitting glass, there is a shadow, I have experienced being at the epicenter before, also in a dream, it was really scary.” “A magnitude 4.5 feels so strong! It’s not even at the epicenter! I can’t imagine what a magnitude 7 or 8 would be like.” “Meizhou in Guangdong felt the earthquake noticeably, waking me up from sleep.”
Others said, “Is this just a 4.5 magnitude with such a strong shaking? It feels like more.” “My body feels like it’s a magnitude 6.” “I wonder if this earthquake was a precursor. I am in Zhangzhou, Fujian. Yesterday at noon, there was a flock of birds making a lot of noise in the corridor outside my dorm for ten minutes.”
According to the speed report catalog of the China Earthquake Networks Center, there have been a total of 37 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher within 200 kilometers of the epicenter in the past five years, with the largest earthquake being a magnitude 6.2 that occurred in Tainan City, Taiwan on January 21st, 2025, 188 kilometers from this recent epicenter.
The day before this earthquake, on September 19 at 2:58 AM, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake also occurred near the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, with a depth of 20 kilometers. Coastal areas along the eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula issued tsunami warnings with wave heights ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 meters.