Taiwan’s Experience in Disaster Coordination

Abstract

Taiwan is located on the earthquake-prone circum-Pacific belt and seasonal typhoon impact zone. Given Taiwan’s large population and high urban density, disasters can have serious consequences on its economy, environment, and public health. This paper traces the evolution of Taiwan’s disaster management system into its current framework under the national Disaster Prevention and Response Act and examines the coordination experiences across different actors in involved in disaster response. Through two case studies, Typhoon Morakot and the Formosa Fun Coast Dust Explosion incident, this paper investigates the coordination that occurred in the various phases of disaster management and indicates coordination successes and failures, as well as factors leading to coordination breakdowns in the response stage of the two cases. These factors include unclear responsibilities for mobilization, lack of real-time information systems sharing across sectors, ineffective communication mechanism, inadequate disaster management structure, and lack of disaster drills/exercises for integrating multiple organizations. Understanding how coordination successes and breakdowns occur will provide useful learning points on which future policy changes and education can improve.