Draft legislation that would classify high temperatures as hazardous weather, allowing local governments to suspend school and work on extremely hot days, is expected to be announced later this month, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today.
The agency attended a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee today to discuss the draft amendment to the Meteorological Act (氣象法).
Legislators have also proposed a version that classifies high temperatures as hazardous weather.
Photo: Reuters
The Executive Yuan’s version has yet to be proposed, as the CWA needs to submit a final version to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications before it is sent to the Cabinet.
The agency is currently working on another draft, after the ministry sent it back for revisions based on collected feedback.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said if the bill cannot be proposed this legislative session, guidelines must be established for people to follow next summer.
CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-cheng (呂國臣) said that Taiwan’s temperatures continue to rise, with Yushan (玉山) seeing record highs this year and Taipei seeing more than 70 days hotter than 35°C.
Work and school need not be suspended for the full day on extremely hot days, Lu said.
Standards for suspension vary across industries and work environments, as indoor and outdoor workers, as well as farmers and students have different needs, he said.
The agency also suggested that tropical depressions be classified as hazardous weather, as they have caused disasters in recent years, such as severe flooding in southern Taiwan on Aug. 23, 2018.
In addition, legislators during the session suggested that typhoon days be decided uniformly by the CWA, taking the pressure off local governments to make the decision, as it is largely based on CWA data.
Typhoon days used to be determined by the central government, but are now decided by each municipality.
Lu said that typhoon days are not based solely on wind and rainfall forecasts.
Other factors such as living conditions, water, electricity and environment must also be considered, he added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS