Aiming to enhance disaster prevention and rescue mobilization and response, the Council of Agriculture (COA) of the Executive Yuan and the Nantou County Government joined forces with the central and local governments, air personnel, police, firefighters, tourist agencies, transportation agencies, health care providers, and other units on June 9, 2023 to hold the 2023 Wildfire Prevention and Rescue Drills at Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County. Using war games and real military operations, the participants helped to enhance lateral coordination of various units and the operation mechanisms for public evacuation and sheltering. The drills also tested the overall emergency response capabilities of government departments. The COA stated that the Forest District Offices of the Forestry Bureau under its jurisdiction conduct wildfire drills every year. However, due to the impact of climate change and the aggravation of droughts and floods, the scale and frequency of forest fires may increase. This year, the COA invited various ministries and committees of the central government to expand wildfire prevention and rescue drills with the Nantou County Government for the first time in an effort to enhance resilience to large-scale disasters. A total of 34 agencies and units participated, and as many as 280 people were mobilized for the drills. Participants helped to achieve the goal of disaster prevention and rescue by examining the appropriateness and effectiveness of disaster investigation notification and coordination mechanisms, command and response systems, and emergency response capabilities among agencies at all levels. The COA stated that the drills were formulated to fit the scale of disasters needed for the central government to set up a disaster response center. On the morning of the day (9), the drills were conducted in the form of a war game to deal with complex disaster situations, including land and air disaster relief resource requests, road closings, closure of tourist facilities, air quality monitoring, and public evacuation. In the afternoon, a portion of the war games and handling procedures were conducted using real military drills to test disaster investigation and notification operations, 3D land-air joint disaster relief mechanisms, disaster prevention and warning SMS notifications, and evacuation and settlement operations of vulnerable groups, all of which to help improve large-scale wildfire response procedures. The COA believes that emergency response measures can be launched in time when disasters occur only by enhancing disaster prevention preparation and contact in non-disaster times. It is hoped that through joint central-local government drills that agencies will become familiar with wildfire response operation processes, ensuring smooth response coordination and integration in the event of real wildfires and improved disaster prevention response capabilities and wildfire handling efficiency.
Home
Taiwan High Speed Rail