Today (16), the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of Indigenous Peoples jointly held the "2025 Typhoon Prevention Preparation Press Conference". Minister Liu Shyh-Fang said that the typhoon season is coming. The National Fire Agency (NFA) has selected 186 areas prone to become isolated islands in the event of disasters in 13 local administrations, and completed disaster prevention preparations for projects such as shelters, food reserves, road repair equipment, and helicopter landing and take-off points and airdrop points in order to enhance the overall disaster prevention and relief capabilities of isolated islands and remote areas in local administrations. The Ministry is promoting the "Taiwan Special Search and Rescue Team 5G Digital AI Rescue Platform" and working with the Council of Indigenous Peoples to strengthen "Indigenous Peoples' Disaster Reduction, Preparedness, and Response Measures" with the establishment of the "Indigenous Peoples' Tribal Decision-making Support Assistance Platform". Hopefully, the collaboration among ministries and local governments will reduce the risks posed by disasters and stay away from disasters. In addition, in the future, the government will prioritize the improvement of the infrastructure of vulnerable tribes, especially the power supply, such as solar energy, small hydropower, energy storage batteries, and large fuel power generation equipment. These measures will be jointly promoted across departments with the assistance of the "Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee".
As the typhoon season is approaching, Minister Liu pointed out that the Ministry of the Interior has reminded local governments for disaster prevention and relief preparations, including disaster reporting, resource mobilization and requisition, material reserve, and implementation of Emergency Management Information Cloud (EMIC) operation education and training. Multiple publicity channels are exploited to promote concepts such as "bugout bags" and "disaster prevention food reserves". The public is urged to download the "Fire and Disaster Prevention e-APP" vital information like the nearest shelter and to reduce the risks brought by the typhoon. At the same time, the Ministry is also continuing to encourage major wholesale stores and online shopping platforms to set up typhoon prevention area, allowing people to easily prepare bugout bags and food and water reserves for 3 days before any typhoon arrives.
Minister Liu further pointed out that the NFA continues to upgrade the "Fire Disaster Prevention e-APP" and carry out various disaster prevention preparations to enhance the availability of the system in order to provide the public with comprehensive disaster prevention information. In addition to introducing disaster prevention pictures and videos, the translation in 16 foreign languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Burmese, German, French, Spanish, Malay, Tagalog, Hindi, Afrikaans, Russian and Dutch, is also built to allow foreign visitors in Taiwan for easy access to disaster information.
Minister Liu emphasized that the Ministry of the Interior has been promoting the "Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Deep Cultivation Phase 3 Project" from 2018 to 2022 in order to respond to major disaster situations, strengthen the public capabilities of disaster prevention and relief, and enhance social resilience. As a continuous effort, the "Large-Scale Wind and Earthquake Disaster Preparedness and Cooperation Plan for Resilient Taiwan" has been promoted from 2023 to 2027 for disaster relief volunteer training. Currently, 48,540 disaster relief volunteers have been trained. This year (2025), regular and alternative service personnel will be included in the training, and it is estimated that the number of personnel will reach 100,000. This will improve civilian forces and strengthen disaster prevention and relief capabilities. The Ministry will continue to cooperate with NGOs, schools, and institutions to provide the Resilient Community Badge System and Disaster Prevention Worker Certification, expand disaster relief volunteer training, enhance community disaster prevention and relief capabilities, and jointly protect people’s lives and property safety.
The distinguished guests attending today included Minister Ljaucu Zingrur and Deputy Minister Qucung Qalavangan of the Council of Indigenous Peoples; Deputy Director Tzou Hsun-Yuan of Disaster Prevention and Protection Office, Executive Yuan; Chief Yu Yi-Chiang of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction; Deputy Director-General Wang Yi-Feng of the Water Resources Agency, the Ministry of Economic Affairs; Deputy Director-General Wang Chin-Lun of Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture; Director Su Chao-Ru of Department of Social Assistance and Social Work, Ministry of Health and Welfare; Deputy Director Lin Kuo-Chiang National Air Service Corps, MOI; Associate Researcher Lai Shen-Chiang of the Architecture and Building Research Institute; Vice President Shin Ching-Hsian of the Taiwan Residential Earthquake Insurance Fund; Vice CEO Chang Tsong-Yi of the Tzu Chi Foundation; Secretary General Huang Shao-Wei of the Taiwan Association of Disaster Prevention Industry; Dr. Fang Yao-Min, Associate Professor of Feng Chia University; Mr. Huang Ren, Assistant to Legislator; and Director General Hsiao Huan-Chang of NFA.