Taiwan has developed the most advanced earthquake preparedness in the world
On April 22, Taiwan’s east coast was hit by another series of earthquakes, a second time in the same month. Such earthquakes are not a new phenomena for the Taiwanese people as Taiwan lies at the junction of two tectonic plates, namely the Eurasian plate and the Philippine Sea plate.
Image Source: Temblor.net
Of the hotspots, many are concentrated on the east coast which is mostly rural and sparsely populated but also draws a lot of tourists to the picturesque.
Taiwan is also the producer of 26% of the global semiconductors, the unforeseen disasters thus add on to the risk to security of infrastructure and logistics.
Despite the devastating waves that shook the country overnight, there were no casualties reported nor did the semiconductor industry get severely hit. How is the island country so well prepared and resilient to such natural calamities?
Relations between Taipei and Beijing
In the Indo-Pacific theatre, the relations between China and Taiwan have not been so cordial with the Chinese political and military agenda causing a potential threat and uncertainty for the Taiwanese. Frequent earthquakes make the country’s security all the more vulnerable. This gives it another compelling reason to be highly prepared during events of natural disasters.
Consequently, Taiwan uses a seismic alert system with loud and penetrating alarm sounds on mobile devices. This alert system is actually the same as the one that the government employs to warn the public of potential Chinese air raids.
Lessons learnt from the past
Taiwan has been regularly hit by earthquakes since the past 50 years. One of the major ones being the Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999 on 21st of September which killed 2,500 people and 100,000 were injured. Since then, there has been a strengthened coordination between the local authorities and the government for disaster management and relief.
The island country has thus designated September 21 as a special day in Taiwan for conducting disaster drills across the country, every year. On this day mock alert messages are sent to people’s mobile phones and evacuation drills are organized. Moreover, most cities in Taiwan have well-trained rescuers ready to be deployed at sudden alerts of natural disasters all 24 hours a day.
After 1999, the building codes were revised and since then are being regularly revised by the government who also provides subsidies for the increased construction costs.
Image source: Taipei Times
According to Stephen Gao, a seismologist at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Taiwan has developed the most advanced earthquake preparedness in the world.
Taiwan’s impressive technological progress has not only transformed the island into a dominant force in semiconductor production but has also played a crucial role in minimizing the impact of earthquakes. As a result, Taiwan has been successful in keeping damages and casualties relatively low.
