Government agencies must take blazes in Paris and Okinawa this year into account and take measures to prevent fires at national heritage sites, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.
Su made the remarks at a Cabinet meeting in Taipei, at which the Ministry of Culture reported on its work to conserve and revitalize cultural heritage sites.
In April, a fire began under the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris, causing severe damage to its upper walls and most of the cathedral’s roof.
In October, a fire at the Shuri Castle in Okinawa gutted three of its main buildings.
Government agencies and local municipalities must ensure that similar incidents do not happen in Taiwan, Su said.
Conservation of culture is not just the responsibility of the ministry, other agencies can and must help, Su said.
Su’s comments were delivered after the ministry report, which said that an increase in funding for cultural heritage protection cut down on fires over the past three years.
In 2017 there were four fires that affected cultural sites, and one each last year and this year so far, the report said.
There were seven fires near or on cultural heritage sites in 2016, it said.
The ministry has a planned budget of NT$5.29 billion (US$173.4 million) for cultural heritage conservation in fiscal 2020, up NT$4.9 billion from 2016, the report said.
In addition to amendments to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法) in 2016, the ministry has amended 20 ancillary regulations and introduced 17 additional regulations, it said.
As of the start of this month, there were 2,586 locations listed as cultural heritage sites, with 118 considered state cultural heritage sites, including the newly recognized Baoan Temple in the Dalongdong (大龍峒) area in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), Longshan Temple in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) and the Luce Memorial Chapel in Taichung’s Xitun District (西屯), it said.
Sites in Yilan County’s Wanshan Township (丸山) and Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛) have been made national archeological sites, it said.
The ministry also listed the Alishan (阿里山) Forest Railway as an important cultural site, it said.
The Bureau of Cultural Heritage is in charge of disaster prevention and is tasked with cross-departmental exercises and training, as well as promoting “smart” disaster prevention, the ministry said.
The National Fire Agency would help with exercises and conduct routine inspections, while the National Police Administration is to set up patrol boxes and step up investigations of suspected arson in cultural heritage areas, it said.
The National Disaster Prevention Center is to provide information to help protect sites in case of natural disasters, while local governments should establish cultural asset service centers to implement disaster prevention plans and improve equipment, it said.
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