Taiwan: Coping with disasters, Yilan style
In Yilan, Taiwan, natural disasters are part of the local people’s daily lives – so much so that they have developed their own disaster management concepts that they refer to should disaster strike.
Helping the public to prepare for disasters are people like Luen Chang Ho, who wears a dark blue cap and yellow vest over a gray, long-sleeved uniform with dark pants when on duty.
“We’re proud. It’s the official uniform of the Mei-Zhou Community Resilience Task Force while on duty,” said the 61-year old Ho while guiding visitors from Asian countries along the banks of the Yilan River in northern Taiwan.
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“We’ve now learned to get ourselves prepared. Since the construction of the embankments, we’ve formulated three basic concepts, combining the local community’s culture, alertness in the face of disasters and local economic improvements. The community resilience task force was set up only in 2012,” Ho said.
Local culture is the key to successful disaster control as Taiwanese villagers are accustomed to working together among families and religious and professional associations.
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