The Taipei City Fire Department yesterday hosted an international search-and-rescue exchange, bringing together disaster relief experts from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to share their know-how and experience to improve response efforts.
Huang Chien-hua (黃建華), head of the department’s disaster and rescue division, said the Hualien County search-and-rescue team, which spearheaded rescue efforts in the aftermath of a magnitude 6.0 earthquake on Feb. 6, was invited to the forum to outline their approach.
The rescuers discussed how they used the media and social media to release information about suspected missing persons confirm their whereabouts, Huang said.
They then used that information along with police resources and household registration data to determine who might have been trapped in the rubble.
In a statement to the media on Feb. 9, the National Police Agency called the method a tech-based approach, similar to that used in criminal investigations.
The method allowed police to reduce the number of suspected missing people from 183 to seven in just 60 hours following the earthquake.
Experts from Japan discussed their relief efforts in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake on Jan. 17, 1995 and the Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
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