->The first batch of autonomous Taiwan Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERTs), for the port areas, completed the training by the central government. Minister LIU Shi-Fang of the MOI: Public and private sectors are welcome to join hands in strengtheni

On 2024/07/03, a flag presentation ceremony on the Mid-Term Program for Autonomous Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERTs) was held by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) for the completion of training of the first batch of autonomous Taiwan Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERTs) for the port areas. Minister Ms. LIU Shi-Fang of the Interior (MOI) was present to express her special greetings to the T-CERTs members, whereas Deputy Minister Mr. MA Shi-Yuan of the Interior (MOI) presented the flag and observed the T-CERTs’ drill. In addition to affirming the efforts made by three T-CERTs, namely Taipei Port Branch Office of Keelung Port (TPBO/KP), TONGLIT LOGISTICS CO., LTD., and CENTURY WIND POWER CO., LTD., MA also emphasized the importance of this Mid-Term Program and encouraged all agencies and groups to jointly promote this program, while enhancing the disaster prevention and response capabilities, so as to be able to autonomously mobile and organize their grouping immediately when major disasters strike, thus exerting the response capabilities of self-protection, self-rescue, and mutual assistance, and ultimately strengthening Taiwan’s overall response resilience to disasters.

When addressing to the representatives from the three T-CERTs from Taipei Port area, first, LIU first indicated that the 2024 Taiwan T-CERT initiative was extremely crucial; second, she expressed her appreciation to the National Fire Agency (NFA) and the New Taipei City Fire Department for training up the three T-CERTs in such a short period of time; third, she explained that the concept of T-CERT lies in self-rescue first, followed by saving the community, and saving the country. We Taiwanese are to save our own Taiwan. And people from all walks of life in Taiwan, including friends from the business community, as well as people from public and private sectors, if interested, are welcomed to participate in the training and deployment of T-CERT. Through T-CERT program, not only we could save ourselves, but others as well – This is the essence of T-CERT. Let’s do it together, Taiwan go!

In retrospect, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), disasters occurred in recent years at home and abroad included, the international incidents such as, the large-scale pushing incident in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea in 2022, the major earthquake in Turkey in 2023, and the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Japan in 2024, as well as, domestic incidents in Taiwan such as, the MINGYANG factory fire in 2023 and the 0403 Hualien earthquake in 2024. These disasters still remain vividly in people’s recollection. And based on the experience of people being rescued in large-scale international disasters, it showed that "self-help, mutual assistance, and public assistance" accounted for the ratio of 7:2:1. And the vast majority of survivors survived through the populace's self-rescue and mutual assistance.

Indicated by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), how to reduce casualties as much as possible immediately after a disaster constitutes the focus of all countries' efforts. Therefore, with reference to the experience of the United States and Singapore, Taiwan proposed the Mid-Term Program for Autonomous Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERTs) with adjustment made to those references according to Taiwan's characteristics and actual needs, This Mid-Term Program introduced the concept of "Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)" in the United States, covering roles from the central to local governments, and from the government to the private sector. The goal of this Mid-Term Program is to cultivate the initial response capabilities of the private sectors in Taiwan through this six-year Mid-Term Program, so that such T-CERTs could play the supporting roles along with the disaster relief efforts by our government agencies. In 2024, the initial T-CERTs established are mainly related to "nationally important sites" and "key enterprises in the port area".

As per the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the Mid-Term Program for Autonomous Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERTs) is to be implemented from 2024 to 2029. Starting from 2024, at least 80 teams are to formed on a yearly basis every year across the country, and a total of 320 T-CERTs are to be finally formed in four tiers over the six years. A total of 8,000 first responders are to be cultivated with five major rescue skills, namely assessment, marking, search, rescue, and medical care.

Indicated by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the three T-CERTs, namely Taipei Port Branch Office of Keelung Port (TPBO/KP), TONGLIT LOGISTICS CO., LTD., and CENTURY WIND POWER CO., LTD., that completed their training today, constituted the first batch of T-CERTs in New Taipei City trained by the National Fire Agency (NFA). Through a three-day diversified training course combining theory and practice, T-CERT members have learnt core skills in 10-unit course, so that they can quickly mobilize, organize, and carry out life rescue tasks on their own prior to the arrival of the government rescue personnel during a disaster. To this end, more people can survive in the disaster. As for training of T-CERTs for other county and city governments, at present, Kaohsiung City, Tainan City, Taipei City, Miaoli County, and Hualien County are under planning for conducting training. A total of 80 teams are scheduled to be established in 2024, and it is expected that training to all the 80 T-CERTs to be completed by the end of September, 2024.

As per Deputy Minister MA, the current laws and regulations has covered special defense corps and self-defense firefighting groups, the two of which can be integrated through T-CERT training and turned into an operational mechanism. In addition, Taiwan is currently in the peak period of earthquakes, and T-CERT training allows the civil society to autonomously respond to scenarios of a large-scale earthquake. MA continued, failure to implement T-CERT today is to become a big regret for Taiwan tomorrow. Based on the drill conducted by the three teams from Taipei Port, it is evident that our T-CERTs’ skill levels demonstrated are equivalent to that demonstrated by those CERTs, as we saw, in the United States, which are comparable to international standards. In the future, the Ministry of Interior is to promote the T-CERT training across Taiwan, thus continuing to enhance the civil society's ability of self-rescue and mutual-assistance.