In order to improve the resilience against landslide dams and compound sediment disasters, the Forestry Bureau of the Council of Agriculture (COA) invited the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of the Council of Agriculture and the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to implement the 2022 Joint Drill on Multimodal Sediment Disaster Emergency Response at the Garden Villa (Kaohsiung City) today (3rd). The drill was attentive to detail and closely simulated real-life scenarios, thus achieving the expected outcome of enhancing joint disaster prevention for the entire basin area. The Baolai Hot Spring Area in Liugui District was selected as the location for this drill because during Tropical Storm Lupit in August 2021, a large-scale landslide occurred on the slope from forest compartment no. 66 in Liugui District, Kaohsiung City down to the Laonong River, impacting the safety of the hot spring area located on the opposite bank of such river and raising public concern. This drill represents a substantial progress in reducing disaster risks and improving disaster resilience, and conveys the public sector's concern for the safety of local residents' lives and properties. In the meantime, large-scale landslides have been classified as natural disasters in the amended Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, which took effect on June 15, 2022. In order to strengthen the prevention and resilience against this new disaster category, areas with potential of large-scale landslides located in the upstream of Baolai River and adjacent areas were included in the drill scenarios, wherein compound disasters (floods, mud and rock flows, landslide dams, and large-scale landslides) resulting from simultaneous landslides were simulated. Participants in this drill included the Forestry Bureau and Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, both under the COA, and the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Other agencies of the central and local governments invited to the drill included the Kaohsiung City Government; Liougui District Office, Kaohsiung City; Baolai Village Office, Liougui District, Kaohsiung City; and Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communications and its Third Maintenance Office, all of which committed material and human resources to disaster prevention and protection. In the main venue, Garden Villa, a drill for various scenarios of pre-disaster preparation, disaster response, and post-disaster recovery were conducted in the form of command post exercise. A second venue was added for the first time to implement on-site drills, including military drills on disaster prevention and mitigation measures, independent disaster prevention, community disaster response, evacuation, and preventive road and bridge closures. Through synchronized live streaming connecting the two venues, the main venue was able to verify the viability of its remote command and assignment of participating units to timely exercise emergency response measures, thereby implementing cross-agency joint disaster prevention for the entire basin area. The drill was attentive to detail and closely simulated real-life scenarios, and can therefore significantly improve the mechanisms of multimodal sediment disaster prevention. Liao Yi-Kuang, Deputy Director General of the Forestry Bureau, pointed out that in recent years, global climate change has resulted in the continual increase in scale of disasters caused by extreme weathers and heavy rainfalls, most of which have turned into compound disasters. Past disaster prevention and response mechanisms, which were made to cope with events belonging to a single disaster category, can no longer step up to the challenges brought by compound disasters. Central and local government agencies must cooperate closely, continue to improve relevant disaster response mechanisms, and enhance the coordination among units of different levels and specialties and their division of work. In order to be familiar with the timing, resources, and operating modes of disaster prevention and protection, it is necessary to continuously implement disaster prevention and rescue training and drills to effectively raise public awareness of disaster prevention and improve disaster resilience.
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