Taipei: The Cabinet on Thursday approved draft amendments to a law aimed at enhancing Taiwan's disaster management framework by including tsunamis and barrier lake breaches as recognized natural disasters. This move comes in the wake of last year's overflow of the Matai'an River barrier lake in Hualien County, which tragically resulted in 19 fatalities.
According to Focus Taiwan, the proposed changes to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act seek to address ambiguities in the division of responsibilities between central and local governments. The amendments will include tsunamis and barrier lake incidents in the list of natural disasters and designate the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and Ministry of Agriculture as central authorities responsible for managing these events.
Under the current system, the Executive Yuan oversees disaster response through the Central Disaster Prevention and Response Council and the Office of Disaster Management, with efforts managed according to disaster type. The amendments aim to streamline these efforts by assigning specific agencies to oversee major disaster prevention and response tasks, thereby expediting critical decision-making processes. However, prevention and reconstruction will still be handled by relevant authorities.
Deputy Interior Minister Ma Shih-yuan, at a Cabinet news conference, highlighted plans to amend the Executive Yuan Organization Act and related regulations to clarify the roles and structure of designated response agencies. The future arrangements will be crafted to balance the diverse expertise required in prevention and recovery efforts.
The amendments also mandate that government bodies appoint disaster prevention chiefs to lead prevention and response initiatives. Local governments and public utilities will be required to assign dedicated personnel for related tasks and establish disaster coordination centers to manage evacuations, shelter operations, and relief supply distribution.
Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang, in a separate statement, emphasized that the proposed changes stem from experiences with past disasters, such as Typhoon Danas, Typhoon Ragasa, and the Hualien incident. The amendments aim to resolve issues stemming from the fragmented nature of disaster prevention and response duties by instituting a system centered on professional expertise, clear accountability, and dedicated efforts in disaster prevention.