In response to public concerns raised by the Formosa Fun Coast Water Park explosion, the Executive Yuan's Office of Disaster Management (ODM) stated today that in order to resolve coordination and jurisdiction issues during compound disasters, since Typhoon Morakot the Executive Yuan has established a comprehensive disaster prevention and rescue system in line with the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act.
The Executive Yuan set up the Central Disasters Prevention and Protection Council to serve as a platform for relevant policy decisions. The premier is the convener, with relevant ministry heads as well as academics and experts with disaster-prevention knowledge and expertise serving as committee members.
According to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, the central government shall designate competent agencies, based on the nature of the disasters that occur, to implement unified disaster prevention and rescue efforts covering preparedness, maintenance, responses and wrap-up measures, the ODM pointed out.
In normal times, the various ministries and agencies shall carry out disaster mitigation and preparedness based on their respective jurisdictions and responsibilities. When calamities occur, the competent agencies shall take the responsibility to set up response centers, with agency heads as commanders and personnel of relevant agencies mobilized and stationed at the centers. Integration of cross-ministerial strengths and resources will help form a unified mechanism that will function efficiently and effectively during normal times and emergencies alike for disaster prevention tasks.
The Executive Yuan also set up a Central Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission to implement policies approved by the Central Disasters Prevention and Protection Council, the ODM pointed out. The vice premier leads the commission, coordinating and overseeing various ministries and agencies. Within this structure, the ODM carries out internal operations with a clear role and mission.
In order to augment the Executive Yuan's disaster integration and coordination capabilities, Premier Mao had instructed that the minister without portfolio in charge of disaster prevention would be the chief executive of the Central Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission in order to enhance coordination and oversight during normal times as well as to integrate and promote disaster prevention policies. The premier made this decision when presiding over the Central Disasters Prevention and Protection Council in May this year, the ODM stated.
When major disasters occur, the director-general of the National Fire Agency shall serve as the deputy commander of the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC), and shall command and coordinate the firefighting system as well as the military, police and other rescue forces. The CEOC shall collaborate with various agencies that have authority over disaster and rescue in order to form a comprehensive response structure.
The ODM emphasized that in order to consolidate response mechanisms for ordinary times and during the preliminary stages of a disaster, all competent agencies shall continue to reinforce command and coordination, notification and information sharing as well as logistics and media coordination. In addition, the central and local disaster response centers shall set up a dispatch system for coordinating officers in order to strengthen the cooperation mechanism between the central and onsite local command centers.