Mon, Sep 15, 2003 page8

• Drills without mistakes are useless

  • By Frank Shih 石富元
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  A deadly fire in Luchou City, Taipei County, occurred less than 36 hours after the Wanan No. 26 emergency drills were held. Ironically, after watching the perfect drills on TV the day before, the viewers were immediately drawn back to reality by the shocking footage of the blaze.

  The fire this time was not caused by new problems. There were neither terrorists nor biochemical weapons, and the fire broke out in an ordinary narrow alley packed with dozens of motorcycles. No surprise, many illegally-built structures blocked the passages of the building, iron bars on windows prevented escape and some escape ropes had been removed after previous safety checks. These things are seen almost every where. Why have these problems never been resolved? Is this the fate of the Taiwanese?

  I participated in several emergency drills when I was studying Disaster Medicine in the US. The purpose of such drills was to find problems, which is also the most important step in solving them. An exercise is considered a complete failure if no flaw is discovered. As a result, a large number of people from different professions are usually invited to make criticisms during the drills, in order to check the emergency process and to discover possible areas for improvement. Some drills last for a whole day, because problems may occur some time after the operations begin.

  I have been a drill evaluator before, but could hardly accept the US' kind of drill. By Taiwanese standards, the US drills were too chaotic -- everything appeared unrehearsed and some participants even argued with one another. When I watched CNN's live coverage of disasters, how-ever, although there was still chaos and arguments, they were less serious than those during the emergency drills. This showed the value of the US-style drills.

  In Taiwan, unfortunately, drills have become a form of drama, aimed at presenting a perfectly run show to government leaders and the media. In terms of drill preparation, the most important part is perhaps whether an exercise is exciting enough, how to show off the functions of newly-purchased equipment and how to create a tense atmosphere. As for the loopholes in disaster handling and technical difficulties, drill organizers make them disappear by changing the plot.

  Everything is way too perfect. A drill always ends with some officials' lectures and praise. What flaws are there in the drill? No one knows. Who knows that the height of firefighting ladders is limited and the water can hardly reach higher? Who knows that it takes time to conduct such exercises if rescuers wear protective suits and even more time to set up emergency tents on the spot? Who knows that all the locations or buildings where drills take place are specially selected? Who knows that it takes complex procedures to gather those emergency units in real life?

  Since everything is perfect in the drills across the nation, no wonder the reality is miserable!

  A drill usually incurs considerable social costs. During the Wanan No. 26 drills, many people were trapped on the roads or forced to delay appointments. But none of us complained, because we had to carry out exercises to find out and solve problems.

  Drill organizers have the responsibility to present the real look of an emergency, as much as possible, in order to make society understand the reality of disaster- prevention work. Government authorities have the responsibility to discover problems and resolve them. They do not have to solve all problems at once. But at least each drill should be better than the previous one.

  We are willing to cooperate without complaint or regret if such drills can help those in charge find problems. If not, then perhaps it's helpful for them to make personal inspections at the front line. After all, the problems that exist are, for the most part, decades old. Who says that the performance of airborne-rescue work should always be included in the Wanan drills?

  If those in charge view such drills as a show and not a chance to discover errors and flaws in the system, they might as well hire Hollywood directors and stars to produce disaster-prevention videos -- they would do a much better job. Not only would such videos be highly entertaining, but they will have a greater effect on educating and influencing people compared to the illusory drills we have now.

  Frank Shih is an attending physician in the emergency department at the National Taiwan University Hospital.

  TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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