The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday used the occasion of its second anniversary celebration to publicize some of the law-enforcement and maritime search-and-rescue achievements it is most proud of.
The CGA, inaugurated on Jan. 28, 2000, said one of its most remarkable accomplishments over the past two years has been the discovery and seizure of NT$11.8 billion worth of smuggled goods, including cigarettes, liquor and oil, as well as agricultural and fishery products.
CGA Director Wang Chun (王郡) said another major accomplishment of the administration has been search-and-rescue missions for around 1,600 people reported missing or stranded in shipwrecks or sea disasters.
"This achievement is indeed something to be proud of. Unfortunately, we were unable to save all those we intended to. There is still much room for improvement. We have yet to upgrade our equipment," Wang said.
President Chen Shui-bian (
With the agency's current equipment, mainly ships, President Chen said the CGA is unable to "have all of Taiwan's territorial waters" under its control.
The president said he expected the CGA to develop "three-dimensional operational capabilities" to make up for its deficiency in surface vessels.
Chen made the remarks in a speech he delivered to the CGA leadership and its staff at the Taipei headquarters of the administration. The three-dimensional operation capabilities Chen mentioned refer mainly to an air arm that the CGA is to bring into service.
The air arm will become operational on Friday, Wang said.
It is basically a fleet of helicopters with search-and-rescue capabilities.
Because of budgetary constraints, the CGA will not own the helicopters. They will be chartered from a civil aviation company on a pay-per-flight basis.
The CGA declined to reveal any further details of the helicopter fleet, such as the number of aircraft involved.
Besides the soon-to-be-established air arm, Wang also announced that the administration will increase the number of fixed coastal radar sites from 45 to 78 over the next few years.
The new radar sites will be built by local firms that won the bidding for the project in December.
The new radar sites will be linked to satellites, an official with the CGA said. It is not known which country the satellites belong to.
The CGA was founded in February 2000 and combined the coast guard command of the military, the marine police under the National Police Administration and certain portions of the customs office under the Ministry of Finance.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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