->The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) strengthened the training, mobilization, and international cooperative drills during the month of National Disaster Preparedness.

Today (on 2024/09/12), at the Internal Affairs Meeting of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), a briefing on "Strengthening the training, mobilization, and international cooperative drills during the month of National Disaster Preparedness" was made by the National Fire Agency (NFA). As per Minister LIU Shyh-fang of the Interior (MOI), this year's (2024) National Disaster Preparedness Day marked the 25th anniversary of the 921 Earthquake, and many activities were scheduled during the period from 2024/09/01 to 2024/10/31, including an international seminar, and particularly on 2024/09/18 an exercise based on a simulated 7.3-magnitude earthquake striking 23.5 kilometers east of the Chiayi County Government in Zhuchi Township of Chiayi County. Hypothetically, severe disasters resulted from the simulated earthquake, and accordingly, various disaster prevention and relief drills were planned, including "Tabletop exercise (TTX) and live drills on large-scale earthquake relief and mobilization", "Drill on transmission of emergency warning messages of major disasters" and "Drill on release of earthquake and tsunami warnings", etc. The National Fire Agency (NFA) was requested to properly plan the inter-agency cooperation among the relevant ministries/ councils of the central government and local governments, better the preparation for various mobilization proposals, aiming to verify the effectiveness of existing disaster relief capacity during the exercise, and enhance Taiwan’s disaster prevention and response capabilities.

Pointed out by Minister LIU, 25 years have gone by since the 921 Earthquake. From then on, the government has been committed to establishing a national disaster prevention system and actively cooperating with international rescue teams, hoping to ensure, through regular drills and preparations, prompt and effective response to disasters. For example, on 2024/09/06, the National Fire Agency (NFA) especially conducted a charter flight drill for earthquake search and rescue at Taipei International Songshan Airport. Throughout the entire drill, the charter flight process for international humanitarian rescue mission was followed, including the border outbound and inbound process of the search and rescue team, the check-in reporting process of the personnel, search and rescue dogs, and rescue equipment in a shunt mode, streamline customs process, and the Reception and Departure Center (RDC) process. By integrating the cooperation and coordination of various ministries/councils and civil society units, all participating parties got to learn about the processes of the charter flight process in search and rescue to shorten flight transportation time, ensuring our search and rescue team’s timely arrival in the disaster-affected country to immediately dive in life-saving search and rescue operations, thus further enhancing Taiwan's crucial position in international disaster relief.
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As per Minister LIU, this large-scale earthquake relief exercise is hosted by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) under the guidance of the Executive Yuan, which combined the efforts of the central and local governments, and the military and civil society. The exercise is expected to mobilize thousands of local people, as well as invite many international guests, including disaster relief personnel from Japan, the United States, Germany, South Korea, Fiji, Poland, Turkey, Lithuania, and the Philippines, and representatives from various countries' consulates and embassies in Taiwan, to participate in or observe the national exercise. In addition to verifying our domestic mobilization capabilities, this exercise can also effectively promote international rescue exchanges and cooperation.

Specially reminded by Minister LIU, at 09:21 on 2024/09/20, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) is going to send a "national warning" message to people across the country in line with the simulated earthquake. Upon receiving the earthquake warning sounds and text messages on their mobile phones, the people across the country are requested to cooperatively practice the 3-step life-saving approach amid the simulated earthquake, namely the three stops of "Drop, Cover, and Hold on". In the future, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to continue to refine various disaster prevention, preparedness, and response measures; integrate various ministries/ councils and local governments for exercises on large-scale earthquake relief and mobilization; expand the Disaster Relief Volunteer (DRV) training within public and private sectors as well as the Taiwan Community Emergency Response Team (T-CERT) training within communities; and promote the earthquake evacuation knowledge among the public through diverse publicity activities of disaster prevention; thus ultimately enhancing the response capabilities of governments at all levels and the public's awareness of disaster prevention, and reducing the public’s casualties.

The Ministry of the Interior strengthens the national disaster prevention month training mobilization and international cooperation exercises.

The Ministry of the Interior strengthens the national disaster prevention month training mobilization and international cooperation exercises.