In the first week of April, a powerful earthquake hit Taiwan, an island slightly larger than the state of Alagoas nestled in the Pacific Ocean. With a magnitude of 7.4, it was the strongest tremor to hit Asian territory in 25 years, but it proved that it was well prepared for a seismic catastrophe. There were ten deaths and around a thousand injured, most of them not seriously – any life lost is a tragedy, but it could have been much worse. Almost exactly a month later, intense rains in Rio Grande do Sul. The disaster in the Brazilian state provoked apocalyptic scenes, with floods that affected almost 1.5 million people. This Wednesday, the 8th, the number of people killed as a result of the rain reached 100, in addition to 372 injured and 128 missing.
These are two very different catastrophic events, but Taiwanese authorities can teach us a lot about successful disaster prevention and response systems. They have even been applying their models in some allied countries – that handful that recognize the island as an independent country, and not as part of China. These include Guatemala and Belize, both in Central America, which also frequently deal with flooding.
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Anti-earthquake system
It is no coincidence that Taiwan dodged what could have been a catastrophe following the 7.4 magnitude earthquake last month. Firstly, the island uses a robust early warning method. Although earthquakes cannot be predicted, the island territory has a system that detects ground tremors that occur in the epicenter region. It immediately sends an alert that travels faster than seismic energy. The government has installed seismological stations across the island to improve detection, and has intensified public education on seismic safety. On the fateful April 3, this probably bought crucial seconds for the population to protect themselves.
Furthermore, the Taiwanese have modern construction laws, geared towards seismic shocks. After a devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake in 1999, which claimed the lives of 2,400 people, the island significantly improved much of its infrastructure, as well as revising building codes and enforcing them more vigorously. Newer buildings were built to a gold standard, while older ones were reinforced.
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What does this have to do with Rio Grande do Sul?
The government of Rio Grande do Sul was criticized for not having implemented more safety and prevention measures after the rains that devastated Rio Grande do Sul in September and November last year. There may not have been enough time to do so, but the Taiwanese earthquake system can serve as inspiration for, for example, the installation of weather stations to detect rain, the construction of more resilient infrastructure and the education of the population to deal with floods.
Furthermore, Taiwan already exports its smart models. In Guatemala, the “Early Warning and Disaster Management System Project” aims to prevent catastrophes linked to flooding on the Cahabón River, reducing the response time of authorities in the department of Alta Verapaz by 30%. The plan includes:
- Create an early warning platform for disasters against floods and landslides;
- Establish four disaster prevention communities;
- Improve the environmental monitoring system.
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“Cooperation with Guatemala is ambitious, because it also provides for the prevention of other types of catastrophes, including reducing damage from earthquakes and hurricanes,” Julie Wu, head of the humanitarian assistance department at the International Fund for Cooperation and Development, told VEJA. from Taiwan.
In Belize, Taiwan announced in 2022 a US$1.6 million project called “Improving Flood Warning Capacity for the Belize River Basin”, part of a broader program among allies to prevent disasters and increase resilience of cities in the Central American nation. The aim of the plan is to build on a previous collaboration, established in 2019, which resulted in improved drainage in the Cayo District, the production of updated flood potential maps, as well as the installation of four hydrometeorological stations to obtain timely rainfall data. real.
For now, however, Brazil-Taiwan cooperation is still very difficult, if not impossible.
“The implementation of disaster prevention and response systems is very complex, and requires the involvement of authorities at both regional and national levels. In other words, for now, we can only carry out projects of this type in allied countries, which have diplomatic relations with Taiwan”, explained Wu.
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There are only 11 nations that have official ties with the island. But Wu points out: “That doesn’t mean we can’t be an inspiration to the rest of the world.”
