About 900 civilians would practice using military field hospital equipment without the assistance of military personnel during civil defense drills in Tainan on Thursday, a source said yesterday.
Although the drills are to be staged in Tainan, fire departments in Kaohsiung and Chiayi County and alternative service conscripts would also participate, the official said on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday last week, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that the small-scale exercise would simulate a severe “compound disaster” scenario involving earthquakes, tsunamis and critical infrastructure disruptions.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The drills would test central and local governments’ emergency response capabilities, such as large-scale evacuations, sheltering and establishing emergency medical facilities, she said.
They would also feature civilian participation to test public-private sector cooperation in the event of a major disaster to enhance whole-of-society defense resilience, she said.
Although military personnel would not take part, the Ministry of National Defense’s Medical Affairs Bureau would lend its newly purchased Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachment (FRSD) medical sets and inflatable field hospital tents for use in the exercise, the source said.
FRSD is a set of medical supplies and equipment designed to enable the rapid deployment of an urgent, initial surgical care unit, providing critical treatment capabilities close to the front line, the source said.
The weatherproofed inflatable field hospital tents are quick and easy to set up and light for transportation and are used to treat patients in the aftermath of natural disasters and in war zones, the source added.
A senior Ministry of the Interior official said on condition of anonymity yesterday that unlike previous rounds of civil defense or Wanan air raid drills, Thursday’s exercise would be “unscripted and more realistic.”
The official added that following the Tainan exercise, the government would proceed with Urban Resilience Exercises from next month until July, which combine the Wanan air raid and Minan disaster response drills.
The series of exercises would culminate in the live-fire portion of the armed forces’ annual Han Kuang drills in July, the official added.
Thursday’s exercise is to take place from 10am to 2pm at Tainan Municipal Nan-ning High School, the Anping Port Visitors’ Center and the square across from the Tainan Yuping Post Office, the Presidential Office said.
President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to travel to Tainan to preside over the exercises, the source said.
Representatives from foreign missions in Taiwan have also been invited, the source added.
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