Taiwan is planning to hold a series of disaster response drills next month, which would include trials of its earthquake warning system, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday.
Scheduled for Sept. 17 to 19 to coincide with the annual National Disaster Prevention Day, the drills would simulate a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Ryukyu Trench east of Taiwan, followed by a tsunami, Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said at a press conference.
The main event would be a three-day exercise in Yilan County, simulating large-scale rescue operations in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami, Ma said.
Photo: CNA
An earthquake rescue drill would also be held at Xinzhuang Sports Park in New Taipei City on Sept. 18 and 19, he said.
As part of the disaster response exercise, an earthquake alert would be sent to mobile phones throughout Taiwan at 9:21am on Sept. 19, advising people to “drop, take cover, and hold on,” Ma said.
At 9:30am on the same day, a tsunami warning would be issued to people in coastal areas of the country, and from 10:59 to 11:01am, all television stations would cut to the Public Television Service channel, where disaster prevention messages would be broadcast, he said.
Taiwan initiated National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, 2000, one year after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck its central regions, killing more than 2,400 people.
This year, the National Fire Agency would also conduct various disaster prevention drills and awareness campaigns from next Monday to Oct. 31, according to the agency’s Deputy Director-General Feng Chun-yi (馮俊益).
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