Tainan is cooperating with the central government to hold the nation’s first civil defense resilience exercises on Thursday next week to test the nation’s emergency response capabilities, the Tainan City Government said today.
President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are expected to travel to Tainan to oversee the exercises, reports said.
The exercises are to take place from 9am to 2pm at Tainan Municipal Nan-Ning Senior High School, teh Anping Port Visitors’ Center and the square across from the Tainan Yuping Post Office, the city government said.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government
This initiative was launched by the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, which was established by the Presidential Office in June last year to enhance preparedness for large-scale disasters and the threats posed by authoritarian expansion, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said.
The drills would simulate disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis or damage to critical infrastructure, testing the effectiveness of on-site disaster responses, Huang said.
The exercises are a collaboration between central and local governments, incorporating civilian participation, he said.
The goal is to strengthen national defense, public welfare, disaster prevention and democratic resilience, he added.
The committee conducted a tabletop exercise with relevant central government agencies and the Tainan City Government on Dec. 26 last year, Tainan Deputy Mayor Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) said.
It was decided then that Tainan would hold the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Field Exercises on Thursday next week, Yeh said.
Following the exercises, Tainan is to host the third meeting of the committee and a follow-up news conference, embodying Lai’s vision of an “action-oriented committee,” he said.
The exercises would verify disaster response capabilities through small-scale, on-site drills, Tainan City Government Secretary-General Fang Chin-cheng (方進呈) said.
They would test the ability of central and local governments to conduct large-scale evacuations, shelter and resettlement operations, and expand emergent medical facilities, Fang said.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS