To observe National Disaster Prevention Day on September 21, President Ma Ying-jeou will visit the Central Emergency Operation Center to observe an earthquake simulation, Premier Sean Chen said today while presiding over a meeting on natural disaster prevention and rescue.
Ma's visit reveals the president's and the government's concern over this subject, the premier indicated. He stated that like other disasters in history, the severe earthquake that took place in Taiwan on September 21, 1999 gave lessons and experience that people could use in the future. He also commented that it is especially meaningful that the government held a disaster prevention and rescue meeting on the eve of the earthquake's anniversary.
After listening to the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) analysis on potential large-scale landslides in the Typhoon Morakot disaster area, Premier Chen suggested that settlements in medium- to high-risk areas should consider gradually introducing automatic data transmission technology, which could quickly collect information and establish an archive of surface movement observations to serve as the basis for evacuation plans.
Moreover, the premier instructed the MOEA's Central Geological Survey (CGS) to continue LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) scanning outside the Morakot disaster area to establish a precise and comprehensive digital database of the country's terrain. Chen also commissioned Minister without Portfolio Chang San-cheng to invite the CGS, the Ministry of the Interior's National Land Surveying and Mapping Center and the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) to meet and discuss how to integrate and utilize the information LiDAR has gathered.
After hearing a briefing from the NCDR on a recruitment plan for civil servants specializing in disaster prevention and rescue, the premier directed the Executive Yuan's Office of Disaster Management to draw up the details for the plan together with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior and Directorate-General of Personnel Administration. The premier emphasized that the recruitment plan should proceed under the premise that the total number of civil servants in the country remains unchanged, should address methods of on-the-job training and should evaluate the possibilities of transferring officials from other departments and using contract employees as a personnel supplement. He said the plan must be prepared thoroughly and then sent to the Examination Yuan for follow-up work.
With regard to the draft amendments to the Earthquake Disaster Prevention and Relief Program, the premier approved most of proposed revisions but instructed the Office of Disaster Management to discuss with related agencies whether to incorporate the section on tsunami disaster prevention into this program or spin it off into a separate project.