Every year during typhoon passages or flood seasons, there are frequent reports of people ignoring official warnings and forcibly going hiking or engaging in sea fishing activities. When they encounter danger, local governments have to urgently deploy large amounts of manpower and resources for disaster relief and rescue, wasting public resources. Following Taichung, Nantou, and Hualien, Yilan County will also enact an autonomous ordinance stipulating that rescue-related expenses incurred due to dangerous incidents caused by ignoring warnings during alert periods will be borne by the individuals responsible.
Yilan Acting Magistrate Wu Zecheng stated that general rescue operations are the government’s responsibility. If someone goes hiking or engages in other activities during normal times and needs government assistance due to an accident, it is something the government should rightfully do — there is no issue with that.
Wu Zecheng said that if weather alerts have been issued and people, without applying for approval or ignoring warnings, insist on engaging in activities such as hiking or fishing, and an incident occurs that requires mobilization of public resources for rescue operations, resulting in a waste of disaster relief resources, in addition to penalties under the Disaster Prevention and Rescue Act, the related rescue costs will also be borne by those responsible. He has instructed the county fire department and other relevant agencies to promptly research and formulate the autonomous ordinance.
Xu Songyi, Director of the Yilan County Government Fire Bureau, stated that Yilan County averages about 5 to 7 mountain or water rescue operations each year, with each operation mobilizing at least 20 to 30 personnel. If a helicopter is deployed, each flight costs NT$100,000, and when including private professional rescue personnel, the expenses are quite substantial.