Taiwan and larger than Belgium. The island of Taiwan has an area of , and lies some from the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait directly to the south, and the South China Sea to the southwest. Its shape is similar to a sweet potato, giving rise to the slang term "hanji" ("sweet potato" in Hokkien) used by Taiwanese Hokkien speakers to refer to people of native Taiwanese descent. The island is characterized by the contrast between
Geology of Taiwan Emei Township, Hsinchu County. The second deadliest was a 7.3 quake that ruptured the Chelongpu Fault (車籠埔斷層) on 21 September 1999, known as the "921 earthquake". On 4 March 2010 at about 01:20 UTC, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southern Taiwan. The seismic hazard map for Taiwan by the USGS shows 9/10 of the island as the highest rating (most hazardous). The offshore features include the Kaoping Slope extending off the southwest coast of Taiwan into the South China Sea. This is emerging from the sea over time to extend the island. The Henchung Ridge extends south from the Hengchun