A typhoon causes a fall in atmospheric pressure -- and the researchers suggest that this in turn reduces pressure on the land over the fault.
As a result, one side of the fault lifts slightly, causing the pressure that has been building up inside to be released.
"This fault [in Taiwan] experiences more or less constant strain and stress buildup," Linde said in a press release.
"If it's close to failure, the small perturbation due to the low pressure of the typhoon can push it over the failure limit.
"If there is no typhoon, stress will continue to accumulate until it fails without the need for a trigger."
The typhoon does not work as a seismic trigger on faults that lie on the seabed because water moves into the area, dampening out any difference in pressure, they theorise.
Often considered a curse, typhoons -- for Taiwan -- could in fact could be a blessing.
A storm could act as a pressure valve, preventing strain from building up to the point where the fault ruptures devastatingly.
