Geography of Taiwan Geography of Taiwan Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, is an island in East Asia; located some off the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of , which includes other nearby islands such as Penghu (). The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest. The island makes up 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China, which is also known as "Taiwan". Taiwan is a tilted fault block, characterized by the
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