Translated by Cara Steenstra

Released by Government Information Office

Release Date: 2005-12-28

Looking back at the great loss that some areas have suffered, and a wish to strengthen the three main aims of the Taichung Fire Department, a "119 Disaster Prevention Rehearsal" on December 29 at Wei Shin Hospital at 185 YuDe Road at 10am to help increase citizen's disaster prevention awareness.

The Fire Department expressed that their three main mission statements are "Prevention, Rescue, and Emergency First Aid". The overall effort of the entire team must be utilized in order to protect the lives and property of the people.

The Fire Department reminded everyone of several disasters such as the February 26 fire at Golden Plaza Department Store building which caused great property damage, as well as causing widespread panic and anxiety as it happened in a densely populated area. Then there was the fire a short while ago on December 14 at ZhongFeng Road in ZhuDong Township, where a family of seven lost five of their family members. There was the fire on December 19 at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, where hundreds of patients and family members were rushed out of the hospital in great panic. There was also the big fire disaster at Jilin Hospital in China, where 39 people lost their lives and 28 others were seriously injured. People's disaster prevention concepts must be strengthened; various fire fighting and fire prevention equipment must be replenished and improved upon, so that should fires unfortunately happen, damages can be limited to the very minimum.