Taiwan will follow Japan’s example in implementing an early warning system that sends text messages to people’s cellphones in the case of a major earthquake or tsunami, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said.
The Japanese government helped to prevent some casualties in the devastating magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan’s northeast and the tsunami that followed on Friday by sending text message alerts 15 to 30 seconds prior to the disaster.
The minister added, however, that laws would have to be revised before the early warning system is put into place.
“I’ve checked with relevant parties to make sure that Taiwan is technically able to establish such a system. However, what blocks us from doing so is not the technology but rather the law,” Jiang said. “Hence, the first thing we need to do is to amend the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法).”
The minister elaborated that, according to the law, any message related to a disaster has to be approved by the Central Emergency Operation Center, which is set up only after a disaster happens.
“When an earthquake occurs, we don’t have time to wait until the center is opened to do something, hence we need to amend the law to authorize the Seismological Center to issue messages ... when they detect an earthquake that could reach a certain level,” he said.
Jiang added that he has asked the National Communications Commission to negotiate with different mobile service providers on the issue.
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