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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, in accordance with the 2020 census, a few third of whom dwell within the coastal metropolis of Hualien, the county seat. It is among 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 residence 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. The town of Hualien is a well-liked vacation spot as a gateway to the nationwide park.
In accordance with the state-owned Central Information Company, three hikers have been trapped on a path close to the doorway to the gorge on Wednesday, after the quake despatched rocks falling. Two of them have been discovered lifeless, the information company stated. Directors stated many roads throughout the park had been minimize off by the earthquake, doubtlessly trapping hikers, in accordance with the report.
Earthquakes have rattled Hualien with some regularity. In 2018, 17 individuals have been killed and a whole bunch 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 have been in a 12-story constructing that was severely tilted, the primary 4 flooring of which have been largely crushed, in accordance with information experiences from the time. The following yr, the world was shaken by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake that injured 17 individuals.
The world 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 residence.
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