President attends quake drill in Taitung County

President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday inspected a large-scale earthquake disaster response drill in eastern Taiwan that involved more than 150 international search-and-rescue and medical personnel.

“Disasters know no borders,” Lai said in remarks after the inspection, stressing the importance of conducting joint drills in peacetime to establish common procedures and coordination so that countries can mount more effective rescue operations when disasters strike.

The three-day event in Taitung County from Wednesday through yesterday was part of National Disaster Prevention Day exercises.

President William Lai, center, listens to a briefing during an earthquake disaster response drill in Taitung County yesterday.

Photo: Liu Jen-wei, Taipei Times

Yesterday’s drill — simulating a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the southern section of the East Longitudinal Valley — involved personnel from 11 countries.

American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Marie-Louise Hannan and Swedish Representative to Taiwan Carl Michael Grans were among the foreign representatives at yesterday’s drill.

A “semi-notified, unscripted” format was used as participants responded to simulated damage to critical infrastructure and disruptions to external assistance.

The drill incorporated lessons from Typhoon Danas and the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake disaster in Hualien County last year, including arrangements for backup communications, as well as evacuations and shelters.

The government has expanded international disaster-response cooperation in the past few years, including cooperation between Taiwan and Germany on disaster prevention, humanitarian assistance and joint rescue operations, Lai said.

More than 177,000 people have been trained as disaster preparedness personnel, up from about 100,000 last year, he said.