A delegation of US emergency response experts is to arrive in Taiwan tomorrow to conduct a fact-finding review and pass on training information to emergency search-and-rescue teams in the US.
The 18-member delegation, which includes four structural engineers and two search-and-rescue experts, serves in a technical advisory role in urban search-and-rescue missions for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
David Hammond, a structural engineer and lead instructor in the US Army Corps of Engineers, said members from California Task Force 3 will also come to Taiwan to aid in the evaluation of structural safety.
The delegation members will cover their own travel and hotel expenses for the trip to Taiwan, since the main purpose of the trip is primarily educational.
They plan to share the information they obtain with other rescue teams in the US, Hammond said.
A review of the 921 earthquake is expected to offer a point of reference in one FEMA training program to be conducted next May, according to officials at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Two Chinese-American structural engineers from a private construction company in San Francisco will also be joining the delegation for the three-day visit to Taiwan.
Taiwanese-born engineer Shih Te-wei (施德偉) said that he felt a call to return to his home town to join in the reconstruction of some of the ruined areas of Taiwan.
"Even though I'm not a member of California Task Force 3, I have received some training which I hope will help," Shih said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS