the epicenter of the earthquake was chichi township. the 921 earthquake happened along the chelungpu fault line in western part of the island of taiwan. the fault is located along the foothills of the central mountains in nantou and taichung counties. some sections of land near the fault were changed in elevation by as much as 7 meters (23 feet). near the northern end of the fault line, a 7-meter tall waterfall was created by the earthquake. in the middle-western part of the island, bridges were destroyed. this stopped traffic for weeks.