The Taipei City Government Fire Bureau, the Volunteer Firefighters Corps, and Songshan Cihui Temple today held a "National Disaster Prevention Day" mountain hiking and disaster prevention promotional event, inviting civil groups, volunteer firefighters, and their families to participate. The Hushan Nature Trail was chosen as the hiking route, aiming to build a strong physique through hiking while promoting disaster preparedness concepts.
The Fire Bureau stated that in line with the Executive Yuan's "National Disaster Prevention Day" series of events, today's mountain hiking activity simulated a scenario where roads and transportation systems were damaged and disrupted due to a major earthquake, making it difficult to return home after the disaster and requiring people to walk back. The activity aimed to promote earthquake disaster prevention concepts as well as emergency evacuation and response capabilities.
On September 21, 1999, a shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Jiji in Nantou, with tremors felt across Taiwan. The quake resulted in 2,455 deaths, 11,305 injuries, nearly 85,000 houses either completely or partially collapsed, and severe damage to infrastructure such as bridges and roads. To raise public awareness of disaster prevention, the government designated September 21 each year as "National Disaster Prevention Day," aiming to enhance the public's disaster awareness and the nation’s disaster response capabilities.
In addition to strengthening disaster relief capabilities through mountain hiking, the Fire Bureau believes that the public should also engage in regular disaster prevention work and learn basic disaster knowledge, making disaster preparedness a part of daily life. This way, people can stay calm when facing disasters. For more disaster prevention information, please visit the Taipei City Disaster Prevention Information Network (http://www.eoc.gov.taipei/EOC/).
(China Times)