The evolution of the natural disaster management system in Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwan is vulnerable to many natural hazards that cause major economic losses. This paper examines the evolution of the natural disaster management system in Taiwan and finds that this system has progressed from an ad-hoc agency to a full government agency and the evolution had very strong relationship with the occurrence of mass disasters at that time. The first fundamental disaster management law-the Disaster Prevention & Response Act (DPRA) was promulgated in 2000. It especially encourages the application of hazard mitigation technologies to reduce disaster losses. However, the operation of the disaster management system has continued to experience many problems in the past five years. Much still remains to be done to develop a mature disaster management system in Taiwan.

Disaster Response After Extreme Events in Taiwan: The Influence of Formal Institutions on Inter‐Organizational Interaction

“…Since the NHMP was not a law adopted by the Legislative Yuan, agency accountability was limited. Additionally, even though the central government developed a basic disaster management plan, this plan was not taken seriously by government agencies (Chen et al, ). However, the NHMP did provide a preliminary framework for Taiwan's disaster management structures (Hsiung, Wu, & Yeh, ).…”

“…Following the ChiChi Earthquake, Taiwan's government officials acknowledged the need for a formal institutional framework that would strengthen the island's disaster management capacities (Chen et al, ). With the adoption of the Disaster Prevention and Response Act (DPRA), Taiwan acquired its first foundational law in the domain of disaster management.…”

“…With the adoption of the Disaster Prevention and Response Act (DPRA), Taiwan acquired its first foundational law in the domain of disaster management. In contrast to the NHMP, DPRA formally identified the legal responsibilities of government agencies at different jurisdictional levels across the four phases of the disaster management cycle: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery (Chen et al, ). Since 2000, Taiwan's government has adopted specific disaster management plans and allocated substantial resources to develop and strengthen its disaster management capacities.…”

“…Second, the central government strengthened its role in coordinating and implementing disaster management policies across national ministries. For instance, DPRA required the Executive Yuan to establish the Disaster Prevention and Protection Council which is responsible for the development, review, and implementation of disaster management plans, policies, and procedures across all ministries (Chen et al, ). Third, DPRA required the National Fire Agency to establish Special Search and Rescue Squads and a Search and Rescue Training Center that would develop disaster response capacities.…”

“…Over the last 75 years, the institutional design of Taiwan's disaster management system has been strengthened to help reduce the risks generated by natural disasters (Central Weather Bureau, 2009;The Disaster Management Expert Consultation Committee, 2010). Although a detailed discussion of these developments is outside of the scope of this article, these developments can be organized into five distinct phases (Chen, Wu, & Lai, 2006;Tso & McEntire, 2011). These phases, identified in Table 1, reflect the policy changes that have occurred after major disaster events.…”