The Kaohsiung City Government (KCG) can request assistance from the central government in preparing for or responding to Tropical Storm Fung-Wong at any time, Premier Jiang Yi-huah stated today, assuring that "the central government will go all-out to support the response effort in the disaster area" currently being rebuilt following the catastrophic gas explosions on July 31.
The premier made these remarks this morning while accompanying President Ma Ying-jeou to the Central Emergency Operation Center dedicated to both tracking the storm—which is heading toward Taiwan—and overseeing the government's preparations and response.
According to the Central Weather Bureau's projection of the storm's path, Tropical Storm Fung-Wong will first hit the Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas. The premier asked the KCG to keep especially close watch on typhoon preparations in the rebuilding areas and promised the administration's support.
According to the Central Emergency Operation Center, the KCG's Hydraulic Engineering Bureau yesterday requested three mobile water pumps, and in response the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Water Resources Agency (WRA) supplied it three large 12-inch water pumps, which are now on standby at the intersection of Sanduo Rd. and Kaisyuan Rd. in Kaohsiung. The WRA also has additional mobile water pumps at the ready should they be needed in the Kaohsiung disaster area as well.
The Ministry of National Defense has assigned a lieutenant general-level commanding officer to the KCG emergency operation center and deployed 1,281 troops to Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung. There are 48,193 soldiers on standby nationwide for deployment to help local governments undertake preventative and evacuative measures.
At the Central Emergency Operation Center, Ma and Jiang attended a briefing and video-conferenced with the Pingtung County, Kaohsiung City and Taitung County emergency operation centers.
Pingtung, Kaohsiung and Taitung have already issued land alerts for the storm, and sea alerts have been broadcast as well. The premier requested local governments to thoroughly execute relevant prevention and evacuation measures.
"Neither the citizens of our nation nor government agencies on any level can afford to take this situation lightly," urged Jiang. "They should all complete disaster preparations as soon as possible."
The Central Emergency Operation Center indicated that because there is still a high degree of uncertainty about the typhoon's path, and preventative measures will vary according to the path the storm ultimately takes, governments on every level and in every location should prepare for the worst.
Noting that the typhoon coincides with the weekend, the premier asked citizens to use their free time to complete their own preparations, travel outdoors only when necessary, and eschew taking excursions to the mountains or the beach.