->LIU Shyh-fang visited Fo Guang Shan, inviting it to participate in the training of Disaster Relief Volunteers (DRVs), so as to leverage the power of religious society to jointly strengthen Taiwan’s resilience in disaster prevention and protection

On 2024/08/23, Minister LIU Shyh-fang of the Interior and Director-General HSIAO Huan-chang of the National Fire Agency (NFA) paid a visit to Abbot Xin-bao at Fo Guang Shan in Kaohsiung, where tens of Masters of Fo Guang Shan were also present for the discussion of the training matters, including Master Ci-rong, Hui-chuan, Huil-un, Jue-pei, Hui-ping, Hui-zhi, Miao-shi, Jue-ju, Miao-le. Jue-xuan, Hui-ming, etc.

As per Minister LIU, Fo Guang Shan has always been an important force in stabilizing people's hearts, which has long been committed to public welfare and social services. This time. Fo Guang Shan was specially invited to cooperate with the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to promote the training of Disaster Relief Volunteers (DRVs) to strengthen Taiwan’s resilience in disaster prevention and protection. Fo Guang Shan expressed its full support for this DRV training program and will also be in line with the Ministry of the Interior’s Exercise for the 921 National Disaster Preparedness Day drill in the Chiayi area. Fo Guang Shan plans to promote the DRV training program from the Fo Guang Shan temples in Chia-nan area among their believers and worshippers.

Pointed out by Minister LIU, in order to enhance populace’s awareness of risk, the government has promoted Disaster Relief Volunteers training since 2018, where the promotion targets have been expanded from the villagers in those early days to enterprise employees, members of civil society organizations, and public sector workers in these days. As of the end of 2024/07, a total of 29,402 Disaster Relief Volunteers have been trained across the country, including special promotions among the central government agencies recently. In 2024/07 and 2024/08, Ministry of the Interior has trained up 400 DRVs in the Central Joint Office Building, and in 2024/09, additional 200 DRVs from the Legislative Yuan and Examination Yuan will be trained up. It is expected that 50,000 DRVs will be trained up across the country by the end of 2025.

Emphasized by Minister LIU, she was very grateful to Abbot Xin-bao and all the Masters for their concern and support for the Disaster Relief Volunteers training. It is expected that, through the social influence of Fo Guang Shan, we could enhance the Taiwan nationals’ awareness of disaster prevention and continue to enhance Taiwan's autonomous disaster prevention mechanism.