Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Taiwan to set up emergency text message broadcasting system

The Taiwan government will set up an emergency text message broadcasting system to alert residents in disaster-affected areas, Interior Minister Jiang Yi-huah said today. Mr Jiang said he will ask telecommunications operators for assistance to disseminate real-time information quickly on any pending disaster via text message to alert people to danger.

The initiative is patterned after the Japanese government’s usage of the same method to alert residents in Tokyo of a looming disaster prior to the arrival of a powerful earthquake centered off the northeastern coast of its main island Honshu on 11 March. Rescue efforts after a disaster are usually difficult and their effect limited, Mr Jiang said, and he therefore believed that people should be given enough knowledge and use their sound judgment to adopt the best strategy to protect themselves in emergencies.

Mr Jiang, in his capacity as the deputy chairman of the National Disasters Prevention and Protection Commission, was reporting on contingency measures in case of an earthquake, fire, tsunami or nuclear accident at a legislative committee meeting.

(Source: Central News Agency via Media Network Weblog)

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