To reinforce disaster management coordination and facilitate policy implementation, the Executive Yuan promoted its Office of Disaster Management (ODM) from a task force to a permanent government unit on January 1, 2012, and various local governments have set up respective disaster management offices under the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah said in his opening remarks at the 2012 Central and Local Governments Disaster Management Symposium held November 29 in Kaohsiung's Garden Villa.
The vice premier said that overall performance in disaster prevention and rescue work is improving year after year, with coordination and communication becoming noticeably more efficient, thanks to personnel who have "stood fast at their posts, worked together with one heart and gone all-out to fulfill their duties."
The symposium was attended by around 200 representatives from the disaster management units of central and local governments, as well as private sector representatives and President of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China Wang Ching-feng, who provided guidance as a special guest. The Morakot Post-disaster Reconstruction Council presented its outlook on the rebuilding, and the ODM analyzed media reports and public opinion on the operation of the Central Emergency Operations Center in 2012.
Forums were held throughout the island in November to gather suggestions for improvement, which were presented at today's symposium: the Ministry of the Interior's Department of Social Affairs reported on preventive evacuation, the Ministry of National Defense on relevant military assistance to local governments, the National Fire Agency on central and local emergency operations center coordination and the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China on private sector contributions. The vice premier instructed the ODM to refer to these recommendations during future policymaking deliberations.
In addition, Jiang presented awards to the most outstanding performers in the local government disaster management evaluation conducted from July 6 to October 16 of this year: New Taipei City, Taoyuan County and Kaohsiung City respectively for special municipalities; Hsinchu, Chiayi and Changhua counties for other areas with a population over 500,000; Hsinchu and Chiayi cities and Yilan County for areas with a population below 500,000; and Kinmen for offshore areas.
The vice premier expressed his highest gratitude to private organizations and volunteers for lending a helping hand and affirmed local leaders' focus on disaster prevention. He encouraged all the forum participants to work together to perfect their preparatory and relief work.