The Taipei City Government held disaster drills in the city's Wenshan and Neihu districts yesterday, as part of the municipal government's ongoing plan to hold such exercises in each of the city's 12 districts. This is the first time the city has coordinated such drills citywide.
Although experts said yesterday the drills were "useful," they also said that improving the city's disaster management master plan is more important.
They said the drills program, which was initiated as a result of the 921 earthquake, could enhance each district's ability to cope with large-scale natural disasters in the future.
Chang Po-chin (
"When the `big one' hits, the city government may not be able to respond to all victims at the same time, so we need an emergency instruction center in each district to carry out preliminary rescue work," Chang said. "This is why we need to hold these district-based drills."
Chang also said mock disasters in the 12 districts would vary in accordance with the characteristic of each district. "In mountainous districts, for example, one of the mock disasters will be a land-slide," Chang said.
Such a district-based disaster management system would also allow district administrators to work as commanders-in-chief to combat disasters in their area and to coordinate different agencies under their command, Chang said.
As the drill proceeded in Neihu district yesterday, hundreds of local residents, district officials and rescue teams took part in the practice -- amid camera crews eager to capture footage of Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Around 2:20pm, a man shouted through a loudspeaker that a big earthquake had occurred. As part of the scenario, dozens of "quake victims" ran out of a building carrying emergency survival kits.
At one building that was supposed to have crumbled with people inside, firefighters, rescue workers from Taipei Rescue Association and members of the community patrol team rushed inside to save lives.
Soon, the mayor's group moved to another location where workers were busy switching off and repairing gas pipelines, as well as water and electricity supply lines.
At the end of the thirty-minute drill, the mayor inspected a temporary shelter set up in the Wenhu Elementary School.
Although it was impossible to actually feel the emotions and urgency of a real disaster in such a drill, city officials appeared satisfied.
"On the whole, the drill was a success," Ma told hundreds of participants gathered at the school's playground, adding that the agencies involved in the exercise were able to react to the emergency situation "in a timely manner."
Sarah Yu (
"We can really strengthen cross-unit contacts in the drill, thus enhancing our district's ability to deal with emergencies," Yu said.
Evaluations of the drill by experts, meanwhile, varied.
Wu Chuan-wei (
"When a big quake hits, communication systems may be destroyed. So some districts in the city may find themselves unable to seek assistance elsewhere in a timely manner," Wu said, adding, "if each district has its own emergency measures, mobilization will be much faster."
Sun Chih-hong (孫志鴻), group leader for information systems under the program for hazards mitigation at the Office of National Science and Technology, said, however: "Drills are useful, but I am afraid they are only opportunities in which related personnel can operate available machinery."
"The problem the city government has now is that it has failed to articulate a master plan for disaster management which takes into account diverse situations in the city's 12 districts," Sun said.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS