->At the press conference held by Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on typhoon prevention and preparedness, the latest scientific and technological equipment for disaster prevention was introduced. As emphasized by Minister LIU Shi-Fang of the MOI, the disaste

On 2024/07/02, a “Press Conference on Disaster Prevention and Preparedness” was held by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) at the drone training ground. Present at the press conference included Minister LIU Shi-Fang of the MOI, Director LI Yong-Fu of the Office of Disaster Management (ODM) of the Executive Yuan, Director-General HSIAO Huan-Chang of the National Fire Agency (NFA) of the MOI, Director HSIAO Jing-Deng of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Deputy Director LIN Li-Yao of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Secretary-General HUANG Shao-Wei of Taiwan Association of Disaster Prevention Industry (TADPI), Deputy Director CHEN Chong-Yue of Fire Department of New Taipei City Government, just to name a few.
According to Minister LIU of the MOU, in response to the upcoming typhoon season, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) has made various preparedness, along with the utilization of the latest science and technology to improve the disaster prevention work in four directions, namely: "faster, better, safer, and friendlier" to ensure the safety of people's lives and properties. The utilization of the latest science and technology included examples such as using drones in applications of typhoon and flood prevention, upgrading the "Fire and Disaster Prevention e-APP", subsidizing the civil society for the maintenance of the "Mountaineering Left-behind Platform", and leasing satellite positioning equipment (e.g. Garmin Inreach) for mountaineers to enhance notification and rescue, expanding trainings for disaster prevention technicians, and strengthening DPP (disaster prevention and protection) volunteers; capacity in disaster prevention and duty assistance.
Pointed out by Minister LIU, during the period of typhoon and flood prevention, drones can transmit real-time images of disasters on isolated islands; help search and rescue people in need; can be used for disaster relief in four common disasters, namely fire explosions, mountain search and rescue, water rescue, and earthquake situation collection. In order to help the populace obtain real-time disaster information for disaster prevention and preparedness, and learn about the nearest evacuation sites, the National Fire Agency (NFA) continues to upgrade the "Fire and Disaster Prevention e-APP", while introducing 5 additional languages, namely Filipino, Indian, Afrikaans, Russian, and Dutch, on the e-APP, on top of the existing 11 languages (e.g. English, etc.) available on the e-APP.
Explained by Minister LIU, in response to large-scale disaster scenarios, to build disaster prevention and protection capacity in the civil society and to strengthen social resilience, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) has trained up a total of 27,723 disaster prevention technicians as of the end of 2024/05, where such number is roughly estimated to reach up to 50,000 disaster prevention technicians by the end of 2025. Moreover, as of the end of 2024/06, the MOI has also trained up 692 people from disaster prevention and protection groups on water rapids trainings; 367 people-times on mountain rescue trainings; and 293 people-times on light land search and rescue trainings, where all these efforts were made to continuously improve the rescue efficiency.
Emphasized by Minister LIU, at present, inventory-taking of 193 disaster-prone isolated island areas in 14 counties and cities across Taiwan has been carried out, so as the disaster prevention preparedness efforts such as evacuation shelters, food reserves, machines for rush repairs of roads, aprons for helicopter landing and take-offs, sites for airdropping materials. Additionally, local governments have been requested for assisting with various disaster prevention and protection preparedness, including the implementation of disaster notification, resource recruitment and requisition, materials reservation, and implementation of trainings on operating the Emergency Management Information Cloud (EMIC) for disaster prevention and protection.
On 2024/07/02, demonstrated at the press conference included, the operation of drones, various civilian forces equipment and devices, special search forward command posts, and vehicles with on-board communications platform. Through the "Five-year Mid-term Program for Improving Rescue in Mountain Accidents" (from 2024 to 2028), subsidies are to be given to civil society organizations for maintaining the "Mountaineering Left-behind Platform" and to mountaineers for program of leasing satellite positioning equipment (such as Garmin Inreach, PLB, and other GPS positioning and rescue requesting equipment), thus allowing rescue units not only to grasp the movements of populace entering the mountain 24 hours a day, but also to trace the last-known position and trajectory of the populace. Once an accident occurs, simply by pressing the SOS button for help, rescue units are to be immediate notified across the platform for the timely dispatchment of rescue personnel, thus enhancing the safety of mountaineers.