Ministry of the Interior: This year’s National Day celebration plans a parade of disaster prevention warriors to demonstrate the resilience of the whole society’s defense

Minister of the Interior Liu Shifang said today (1st) that the Ministry of Interior has actively promoted the training of disaster prevention personnel in recent years, and it is expected that the number of disaster prevention personnel nationwide will reach 200,000 by the end of this year. This year's National Day Convention has specially planned a parade echelon performance for the defense and resilience of the whole society. It has gathered five major parade echelons, including civil servants, police and fire fighters, substitutes, village chiefs, security guards, religious groups and people's organizations. More than 2,500 disaster prevention warriors will participate in the event. The disaster prevention energy accumulated in daily life will be gathered at the National Day event, allowing the people to see Taiwan's determination to jointly invest in disaster prevention and preparation from the central to local governments, from the public sector to civil society when facing various challenges.

The Ministry of the Interior will arrange for each unit to report on the "Preparations for the National Day Disaster Prevention Parade" in today's ministry briefing. After the meeting, Deputy Minister of the Interior Wu Tangan explained that this year’s National Day meeting specially gathered disaster prevention personnel from the central, local and civil organizations from different fields to form a parade echelon, which is divided into five echelons: The first echelon is composed of representatives from central agencies such as the Fifth Academy, the Central Police University and the Taiwan Police College and other public agencies to form the "Public Service Representative Echelon"; the second echelon is composed of active and reserve replacement men. The third echelon is the "civilian group echelon" composed of village chiefs and village officers, civil defense vigilantes, security guards, volunteers, apartment building and mountain area management personnel; the fourth echelon is the "religious group echelon" composed of religious groups; and the fifth echelon is the "people's group echelon" composed of people's organizations such as the Lions Club, Rotary Club, Youth Chamber of Commerce and Tongji Club. These five echelons cover various industries such as the public service system, alternative services, grassroots communities, religious groups, etc., showing the diverse power of disaster prevention work to take root in daily life and jointly build social resilience.

This National Day Parade has rich and diverse equipment. For example, the substitute echelons appeared in high-performance and highly recognizable "new uniforms", and the substitutes who participated in the Matai'an River disaster in Hualien were invited to join the echelon as "Shovel Superman" to demonstrate the disaster prevention capabilities of the substitutes in disaster prevention, emergency rescue and civil defense cooperation. Currently, more than 53,799 substitutes have obtained disaster prevention certificates, demonstrating the mobilization energy of the substitutes in daily training and disaster response.

In addition, during the exhibition stage, the Police Department and the Fire Department respectively planned to use police drones, security agents, various vehicles and equipment, and police dog teams to accompany them. Aboriginal special search teams, search and rescue dogs, and disaster relief personnel participated to demonstrate the application of police and fire technology and disaster response capabilities. In addition, during the parade stage, police college students and volunteers, volunteer firefighters, civil defense, and security personnel were invited to form a parade echelon to demonstrate the resilience and determination of all people to protect their homeland.

Wu Tang-an emphasized that the National Day celebration is an important moment for all people to participate together. This year, through the parade echelon performance, disaster prevention practitioners from all over the country will take to the National Day stage to let the people understand that disaster prevention requires joint investment and mutual support from the central, local and civil society. He also hopes that through the National Day activities, the national disaster prevention awareness and resilience will be deepened, and Taiwan society will continue to improve the adaptability and resilience to face various challenges. The Ministry of the Interior also invites Singaporeans to cheer for the parade echelon on National Day and feel the power of all people working together to protect their homeland.