1. Emergency Management in Taiwan: Learning from Experiences Yi-En Tso Ph.D. student Department of Public Administration University of North Texas Denton, Texas

2. Overview 1. Main hazards and vulnerabilities. 2. History. 3. Laws and organizations. 4. Activities. 5. Lessons. 6. Conclusion.

3. Main hazards and vulnerabilities in Taiwan Typhoon: 3.6 typhoons and US $667 million economy losses a year. Earthquake: September 21, 1999, the Chi-Chi earthquake killed more than 2,400 people in the midnight.

4. Main hazards and vulnerabilities in Taiwan Failures within public policy and government actions: inappropriate design, lack of building codes, and low-efficiency in implementing zoning policies.

5. Major disasters history Chi-Chi Earthquake (September, 1999): 7.6 on the Richter scale, 2,400 people killed, 8,700 injured, 600,000 people left homeless, 14 billion USD damage. Typhoon Nari (September, 2001): 104 people killed, 84 million USD agricultural losses, business and traffic in Taipei City were paralyzed more than a month.

6. Laws and organizations Disaster Prevention and Response Act (DPRA): Promulgated in 2000 and amended in 2010, is the first disaster management related foundational law in Taiwan. Four governmental levels: the Central, Municipality, County, and Township.

8. Activities Structural and non-structural Mitigation activities. Cross-border cooperation mechanism: Northern Taiwan Development Commission. Cooperate with private sector and civil society.

9. Lessons learned Financial asymmetry limits the efficiency of EM in local level. Vague segregations of duties between agencies result in chaos and problems about unity of command. Private sector and civil society have become powerful actors in Taiwanese EM network.

10. Conclusion “No money, no gain” “Adversity spurs vitality, while comfort breeds sloth” (Mencius, 372 – 289 BCE)

11. Thank you! Yi-En Tso Yi-entso@my.unt.edu