Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast is a scenic, sleepy vacationer space tucked away from the island’s city facilities, with a well-known gorge and aquamarine waters. It additionally occurs to sit on a number of energetic faults, making it vulnerable to earthquakes.
The county has a inhabitants of about 300,000, based on the 2020 census, a couple of third of whom stay within the coastal metropolis of Hualien, the county seat. It is without doubt one of the most sparsely populated elements of Taiwan. About three hours by prepare from the capital, Taipei, the town describes itself as the primary place on the island that’s touched by the solar.
Hualien County is house to Taroko Nationwide Park, certainly one of Taiwan’s hottest scenic areas. Guests come to discover the Taroko Gorge, a striated marble canyon carved by the Liwu River, which cuts by means of mountains that rise steeply from the coast. Town of Hualien is a well-liked vacation spot as a gateway to the nationwide park.
In line with the state-owned Central Information Company, three hikers had been trapped on a path close to the doorway to the gorge on Wednesday, after the quake despatched rocks falling. Two of them had been discovered useless, the information company stated. Directors stated many roads throughout the park had been minimize off by the earthquake, probably trapping hikers, based on the report.
Earthquakes have rattled Hualien with some regularity. In 2018, 17 folks had been killed and a whole lot of others injured when a magnitude 6.5 quake struck simply earlier than midnight, its epicenter a brief distance northeast of the town of Hualien.
Lots of the victims in that quake had been in a 12-story constructing that was severely tilted, the primary 4 flooring of which had been largely crushed, based on information stories from the time. The following 12 months, the realm was shaken by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that injured 17 folks.
The realm has a number of the highest concentrations of Taiwan’s aboriginal inhabitants, with a number of of the island’s Indigenous tribes calling the county house.
