Taipei Hosts Public Safety Drill at Country’s Largest Transit Hub
The second of a series of public safety drills focused on Taiwan's public transit took place at Taipei Main Station on Thursday. The drill covered scenarios involving the four major transportation lines at the country's biggest transit hub. It comes after a deadly stabbing and smoke grenade attack last month that left four people dead, including the attacker. The drills are meant to prepare authorities for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday rush.
Taipei Holds Second Drill Ahead of Lunar New Year Transport Rush
REPORTER:
Here at Taipei Main Station, Taiwan’s largest transit hub, first responders and other city officials are practicing what to do in case of a smoke grenade attack. It comes after a similar attack took place here last month and just weeks before the Lunar New Year travel rush.
REPORTER:
For this drill, attackers throw smoke grenades and slash other travellers with knives at spots around the station. It’s part of a series of public safety exercises the city’s holding in the wake of the attack in December that left four people dead, including the attacker.
To everyone who participated in today’s on-site drill, I express my utmost respect and gratitude. Thank you all for your hard work.
REPORTER:
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an says the drills are crucial to minimizing harm and urges commuters and travelers to stay vigilant.
We are expanding the overall scale and situations [covered in these drills]. That’s why we’ve chosen to hold this one at Taipei Main Station, a hub of four different transportation lines as well as four underground shopping malls and a large shopping center. The flow of people through here is extremely complex and there are many different authorities involved which makes maintaining public safety very difficult. I’m reminding the public to run, hide and protect yourself, so you can immediately get far away from any sudden situation. And I urge people not to hang around and take photos.
REPORTER:
Some people welcome the new public safety push. But others say that resources would be better spent on regular training, rather than a one-off set of drills.
I still feel a bit worried when taking public transportation. Like with the earthquake drills, I feel like people don’t really pay attention unless they’ve been in an emergency.
But I think everyone is on high alert. Just now, someone screamed in the station and everyone immediately turned to look. The drills aren’t bad. I think we need to increase drills to cultivate people’s awareness of danger so they won’t ignore their surroundings.
I think it was just a single incident. I feel the drills are a waste of time. They’re only for show. The government should ask what frontline workers like police really need and what it can do to help them.
REPORTER:
This is the second of three drills the city is planning before the lunar new year holiday, when millions of people travel back to their hometowns. The last one will focus on collaboration between Taipei and neighboring New Taipei.
REPORTER:
As people in Taipei grapple with the impact of December’s deadly attack, drills like these are aimed at getting authorities prepared and keeping the public safe.
