The Executive Yuan yesterday approved amendments to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法), which would better coordinate disaster response by clarifying the responsibilities of central and local governments to speed up the decisionmaking process during major disasters.
The overhaul would assign emergency response coordination to designated lead agencies, with a disaster management system focused on professional expertise, dedicated personnel and specialized disaster prevention, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
The amendments were based on lessons learned from typhoons Danas and Ragasa, as well as Hualien County’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake overflow, he said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The amendments would designate tsunamis and landslide dam disasters as statutory natural disasters, with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture as the respective central competent authorities.
Currently, the act defines statutory natural disasters as typhoons, floods, earthquakes and soil liquefaction, droughts, cold damage, debris flows, large-scale landslides and volcanic eruptions.
The Cabinet oversees disaster management through the Central Disaster Prevention and Protection Council and the Office of Disaster Management, with emergency responses organized according to disaster type.
The amendments would shift the responsibility of coordinating major disaster response operations to a designated lead agency, while prevention, recovery and reconstruction would remain the responsibility of the relevant authorities.
The government would determine the role of the dedicated emergency response agency through amendments to the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said yesterday.
The arrangements would balance areas of expertise in disaster prevention, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction across government agencies, he added.
The amendments would also require government agencies to appoint a senior disaster prevention official, who would be responsible for promoting and supervising disaster preparedness within their organization.
Moreover, governments at all levels and public utilities would be required to employ full-time disaster prevention personnel, the amendments state.
Townships, towns, cities, districts and indigenous mountain district offices would be required to establish disaster prevention coordination centers, the changes state, adding that they can also use substitute military service personnel to assist with disaster response efforts, such as evacuation, shelter operations and distribution of relief supplies.
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