About 900 civilians would practice using military field hospital equipment without the assistance of military personnel during civil defense drills in Tainan on Thursday, a source said yesterday.
Although the drills are to be staged in Tainan, fire departments in Kaohsiung and Chiayi County and alternative service conscripts would also participate, the official said on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday last week, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that the small-scale exercise would simulate a severe “compound disaster” scenario involving earthquakes, tsunamis and critical infrastructure disruptions.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The drills would test central and local governments’ emergency response capabilities, such as large-scale evacuations, sheltering and establishing emergency medical facilities, she said.
They would also feature civilian participation to test public-private sector cooperation in the event of a major disaster to enhance whole-of-society defense resilience, she said.
Although military personnel would not take part, the Ministry of National Defense’s Medical Affairs Bureau would lend its newly purchased Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachment (FRSD) medical sets and inflatable field hospital tents for use in the exercise, the source said.
FRSD is a set of medical supplies and equipment designed to enable the rapid deployment of an urgent, initial surgical care unit, providing critical treatment capabilities close to the front line, the source said.
The weatherproofed inflatable field hospital tents are quick and easy to set up and light for transportation and are used to treat patients in the aftermath of natural disasters and in war zones, the source added.
A senior Ministry of the Interior official said on condition of anonymity yesterday that unlike previous rounds of civil defense or Wanan air raid drills, Thursday’s exercise would be “unscripted and more realistic.”
The official added that following the Tainan exercise, the government would proceed with Urban Resilience Exercises from next month until July, which combine the Wanan air raid and Minan disaster response drills.
The series of exercises would culminate in the live-fire portion of the armed forces’ annual Han Kuang drills in July, the official added.
Thursday’s exercise is to take place from 10am to 2pm at Tainan Municipal Nan-ning High School, the Anping Port Visitors’ Center and the square across from the Tainan Yuping Post Office, the Presidential Office said.
President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to travel to Tainan to preside over the exercises, the source said.
Representatives from foreign missions in Taiwan have also been invited, the source added.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS