The Executive Yuan today invited disaster management representatives from central and local governments to a national forum on disaster prevention and response to discuss and exchange opinions on how to improve the disaster response system.
This event, which follows the February 16 meeting held for disaster prevention scholars and experts, was hosted by Minister without Portfolio Yeh Shin-cheng and aims to integrate the diverse viewpoints of local governments.
Premier Mao Chi-kuo attaches much importance to the nation's disaster prevention and response system and emphasized the necessity of the system's reform in both of his policy addresses to the Legislature, Minister Yeh said. At last week's Cabinet meeting, the premier also indicated that there remains room for improvement and clarification within the relief command system.
The Executive Yuan has been gathering feedback from all sectors of society in the hopes of improving local government's efficiency in disaster prevention and clarifying responsibilities for the command and support systems. Results from today's forum will be combined with those from the February 16 meeting and discussed at a third forum where a consensus will hopefully be forged.
In today's meeting, the local government representatives offered many suggestions for delineating command responsibilities at disaster sites. Representatives from Taipei City, New Taipei City, Keelung City, Hsinchu County (City), Yilan County and Chiayi County agreed that local governments should respond immediately in a disaster's initial stages, and that the central government should take the initiative to establish an on-site mechanism to coordinate tasks and dispatch resources, depending on scope and scale of the disaster.
Meanwhile, other counties and cities stressed that the roles of central and local governments are already clearly defined in the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act. They said that the transfer of command authority is not a problem, but that more attention should be paid to the coordination and integration of information and resources.
As for setting up local offices dedicated to disaster management, Taoyuan City, Chiayi City, Kaohsiung City, Changhua County, Yilan County, Taitung County and Hualien County suggested that the central disaster management system be set up as quickly as possible in order to strengthen professional capabilities and help set up the local offices and personnel.
Other recommendations heard at the meeting include setting up regional disaster contingency plans, conducting joint central and local on-site rescue operations, clearly delineating the roles of central government commanding officials and agencies, setting up an alert text messaging system, documenting events and occurrences at disaster sites, creating a top-level agency responsible for emergency response, encouraging public participation in disaster drills, and sharing disaster response experiences among government personnel. All of these suggestions will be discussed in detail later on.
The preceding recommendations will be combined with results from the first meeting, including establishing national-level policy directions on disaster prevention, setting up a disaster management agency at the central level, creating mechanisms for joining central and local responses, educating the public on disaster response, serving disaster victims and families, drawing from military resources and implementing disaster drills. The compiled information will be sent to the Central Disaster Prevention and Response Council for confirmation and then incorporated into policies or existing laws.