President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday expressed his "grave concern" and instructed government departments to embark on relief work, in the wake of yesterday's early morning earthquake.
At 6am, the president assigned secretary-general of the Presidential Office Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) to attend a briefing made by the response center under the National Fire Administration (消防署).
"The president has been well informed and given all the related information. He has given executive departments full authority to handle the relief efforts," Chang said.
Chen will not inspect the quake-stricken areas for the time being, according to Chang.
Soon after the quake, Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) -- who is still recuperating in the Veterans General Hospital -- phoned secretary-general of the Cabinet Wei Chi-lin (魏啟林), Vice Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Minister of National DefenseWu Shih-wen (伍世文) to coordinate relief efforts.
At the press conference held in the hospital later, Tang said the Executive Yuan would allocate NT$200 million to the prevention of mudslides.
Since the earthquake did not cause serious casualties and damage, the Executive Yuan would assist, rather than lead relief efforts by local governments, Tang said.
Obviously concerned about mudslides triggered by heavy rain in the coming few days, Tang urged local governments not to ignore their potential danger.
He called for people who lived in areas with a risk of mudslides to temporarily leave their homes and seek shelter in a safe place.
Directed by the premier, the Ministry of National Defense established an emergency response center to gather first-hand information of the damage caused by the quake.
The command center for the tenth legion of the army deployed in central Taiwan would join relief efforts to prevent landslides, Tang said.
Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (
Chang urged people to stay alert and take care because of after-shocks and mudslides.
Chang also called on the Ministry of the Interior in central Taiwan to examine the extent of damage in areas affected by the 921 quake.
Yesterday morning Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) visited the Central Weather Bureau for a brief on the weather situation.
Yeh said the jolt yesterday was an after-shock of the 921 earthquake and advised people not to visit mountainous areas in case of mudslides triggered by heavy rain.
The chairman of the Council of Agriculture Chen Hsi-huang (陳希煌) formed a "disaster prevention center" yesterday morning.
Also, after an emergency meeting at the council, Chen visited the quake-stricken area. Chen said the council would start preparing for the evacuation of people in mudslide-prone areas and complete road repairs soon.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS