Mountainous areas within Taichung City’s administrative jurisdiction have seen 160 accident cases over the past five years since 2011, including falls into valleys, getting lost or missing, altitude sickness, illnesses, or injuries. The Taichung City Government has pioneered the “Taichung City Mountain Hiking Activity Management Self-Governance Ordinance,” which has received an enthusiastic response from the public. Mayor Lin Chia-lung said today (the 7th) that he will invite surrounding counties and cities such as Changhua, Nantou, and Miaoli to jointly establish a self-governance ordinance. Currently, Nantou has expressed its intention to join, and he also called on the central government to step in and integrate efforts to jointly ensure the safety of hikers and rescue personnel.
The “Taichung City Mountain Hiking Activity Management Self-Governance Ordinance,” the first of its kind in Taiwan, has been passed by the municipal government meeting and will be submitted to the city council for review. It stipulates that Taichung City will be divided into generally regulated and specially regulated mountainous areas. When engaging in hiking activities in these areas, the public should carry positioning devices, including satellite positioning instruments or smartphones with positioning capabilities, as well as communication equipment for emergencies, such as satellite phones, mobile phones, or radios. Violators may be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$15,000.
“Formulating a mountain hiking self-governance ordinance starts in Taichung!” said Lin Chia-lung. Taiwanese people love hiking, but they must also value their lives. Sometimes, a moment of negligence can lead to accidents, even putting rescuers in danger during typhoon rescue operations. Therefore, to ensure the safety of hikers while avoiding waste of administrative resources, Taichung has pioneered the Mountain Hiking Activity Management Self-Governance Ordinance. Based on the user-pays principle, it mandates that rescue costs be borne by the rescued individuals.
To prevent the burden of high rescue costs on the public, it is also stipulated that hikers entering specially regulated mountainous areas must purchase comprehensive mountain hiking insurance. Currently, insurers require a minimum of five people to purchase such insurance. The Taichung City Fire Bureau has actively communicated with the Financial Supervisory Commission to revise the regulations, aiming to remove the five-person minimum and increase emergency rescue payment amounts.
Lin Chia-lung emphasized that hiking is an inter-county activity. In particular, the high mountains under Taichung City’s jurisdiction border counties and cities such as Hualien, Yilan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, and Nantou. Therefore, through the Central, Changhua, Nantou, Miaoli, and Yunlin Regional Joint Governance Platform, efforts will be made to actively coordinate with surrounding counties and cities to jointly establish relevant ordinances. Currently, Nantou has expressed its intention to join.
In addition, Lin Chia-lung also called on the central government to integrate relevant legal frameworks and coordinate among agencies to establish unified national standards, which would be more effective in ensuring the safety of hikers and rescue personnel.
Fire Bureau Director Hsiao Huan-chang pointed out that mountainous areas within Taichung City’s administrative jurisdiction have seen 160 accident cases over the past five years since 2011, including: 19 cases of falling into valleys, 78 cases of getting lost or missing, 19 cases of altitude sickness, and 44 cases of illness or injury. Among these, 92 incidents occurred within Shei-Pa and Taroko National Parks.
Hsiao Huan-chang emphasized that cases with higher rescue difficulty and those requiring over three days of search and rescue included 14 in Shei-Pa National Park and 8 in Taroko National Park. Therefore, the self-governance ordinance designates mountainous areas above 2,500 meters in altitude, where rescue is more challenging, as specially regulated areas. Additionally, during typhoons, warning zones will be established, prioritizing urgent areas for integration into this regulation, aiming to effectively reduce mountain hiking accidents.
(China Times)