Taipei City Fire Department

In the face of climate change and various disasters such as floods, winds, fires and unpredictable earthquakes, the Taipei City Government has enabled the public to have self-rescue and mutual rescue capabilities to reduce disaster losses. To make this purpose, the “Taipei City Disaster Relief Volunteer System” has been established since 2018 and, in 2019, it further integrated the National Disaster Relief Volunteer Certification System promoted by the Ministry of the Interior. As of today, there are 2,620 disaster relief volunteers certified by the Ministry of the Interior in Taipei, ranking first among all cities in Taiwan.
 
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation is a training institution for disaster relief volunteer recognized by the Ministry of the Interior, and attaches great importance to volunteer training. It shares the same philosophy as the Taipei City Government. Therefore, the Taipei City Government and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation signed a memorandum in 2019. From this year onwards, both sides will invite enterprises, various volunteers and the public to participate in the training. The first training course will be hold at Tzu Chi Taipei Datong Jingsi Hall (No. 239, Section 4, Yanping North Road, Datong District) on June 21, 2022 at 9 a.m., and will be host by the deputy mayor of Taipei City, Huang Shanshan.
 
Huang Shanshan, deputy mayor of Taipei City, points out that the frequency and scale of natural disasters are increasing due to changes in climate and environment in recent years. Therefore, Disaster Prevention and Response Act highlights that disaster preparedness and response capability of the all the people should be one of the important tasks in the field of the disaster reduction, so as to work towards deepening self-help and mutual assistance. Taipei City promotes various disaster prevention measures, and adopts the recruitment strategy of "from the inside out, from the public to the private" in the training of disaster relief volunteer. Beginning with local officials and schools, it will be extended to the military system, disaster prevention volunteers in various fields, citizens who are enthusiastic about disaster prevention, and private enterprises such as convenience stores as well as long-term care institutions. As a result, the public and private sector will establish a partnership with the public sector.
 
Taipei City Government and Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation collaborate to train 2,500 disaster relief volunteers this year. Each department in Taipei City Government will be responsible for recruiting people in related fields to participate in the training. The course is planned for a total of 2 days and 14 hours. After completing the training and passing the examinations, they can become disaster relief volunteers certified by the Ministry of the Interior. Then,not only they can assist the society in disaster prevention and relief work, and also improve the country's overall disaster prevention and relief capabilities.