The Taipei City Government yesterday said personal safety alarms would be distributed to all elementary-school students in the city as part of efforts to make Taipei safer.
At a personal safety education event at an elementary school, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he has been thinking about ways to enhance safety, particularly children’s personal safety.
Ko said he began thinking about the issue after he was reminded about the murder of a four-year-old girl nicknamed “Little Light Bulb” (小燈泡) in the city’s Neihu District (內湖) on March 28, 2016.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The Taipei Department of Education said it last year began providing first and second-graders with personal safety alarms, and has allocated a budget of about NT$19.97 million (US$648,250) to expand the policy to all elementary school students, or about 115,750 children, starting this school semester.
Taipei’s 12 district heads meet monthly with officials from seven city government departments to discuss social security issues, Ko said, but added that personal safety protection was still needed.
There are three levels of personal safety: “self-help,” or the ability to help oneself; “mutual help,” or having the awareness to check a situation when people ask for help; and “public help,” which means public awareness to step in and help others in need, Ko said.
“In addition to teaching children when and how to use the alarms, as well as not to play with them, the most important part is that adults should be educated to identify the alarm’s sound and immediately realize that a child is asking for help,” Ko said. “So please look when you hear the alarm, or else it would be ineffective.”
The Taipei Fire Department is still determining the optimum frequency and volume for the alarms, but the policy is already in place, so children should be encouraged to carry the alarms every day and learn when to use them, he said.
Separately, Ko was asked about Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co general manager Wu Yin-ning’s (吳音寧) unwillingness to report to the Taipei City Council, instead posting on Facebook her suggestions about a project to renovate the Taipei First Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market.
Everyone is entitled to express their opinions before the project is decided, but it should be done “within the [administrative] system,” Ko said.
Wu should report her suggestions to the board of directors or at monthly or daily administrative meetings at Taipei City Hall, not on Facebook, he said.
However, Taipei Department of Economic Development Commissioner Lin Chung-chieh (林崇傑) and Taipei Market Administration Office Director Sheu Shyuan-mou (許玄謀) later told the Taipei City Council’s Democratic Progressive Party caucus that Wu had attended some of the meetings and the company also proposed suggestions on the renovation.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS