Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

WAN-AN AIR-RAID DRILL TO BE HELD IN CENTRAL TAIWAN WEDNESDAY

ROC Central News Agency

2005-08-16 21:11:24

    Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) An air-raid drill will be held in central Taiwan Wednesday as part of the annual Wan-An series of civil defense exercises, the, Ministry of National Defense announced Tuesday.

    The exercise, code-named Wan An 28, aims to test city and county governments' abilities to respond to such emergencies as fires, terrorist attacks and nuclear incidents, the ministry said.

    The air-raid drill will start at 2 p.m. simultaneously in eight cities and counties in the central part of the island, including Taichung City, Taichung County, Changhua County, Nantou County, Miaoli County, Yunlin County and Chiayi County, the ministry said.

    During the drill, all cars and passengers must follow police directions to take shelter. Trains and mass rapid transit cars will run as usual, but alighting passengers will have to evacuate to designated places.

    Freeway traffic will be controlled at all entrances -- only exiting will be permitted and no cars will be allowed to enter the freeway.

    Civilian airliners will take off and land as usual, but again, alighting passengers will have to follow police directions to designated shelter area. At seaports, all docking ships will have to remain silent.

    Public offices and private businesses will operate as usual, except that all doors and windows will have to be shut and the people inside the buildings will have to remain inside.

    Those who do not follow police orders during the exercise will be slapped with fines ranging between NT$30,000 (US$937) and NT$150,000 (US$4,686).

    Similar drills took place in the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu in July and early August. A drill scheduled for that time in northern Taiwan was postponed due to a typhoon.

(By Sofia Wu)

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