Last Saturday, just two days after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck near Humboldt County on the coast, the Northern California Taiwan School Association joined forces with the San Francisco Bay Area Emergency Response Internet Organization to host an earthquake emergency relief training workshop to meet the safety needs of the community.
The training took place on the second floor of the South Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center in Milpitas, with dozens of participants from various Taiwanese community groups attending the training activity. The training session was presided over by Lee Hanwen, the Overseas Community Affairs Commissioner and President of the Northern California Taiwan School Association. Arjun Batra, a council member of the City of San Jose, and Hsu Meifeng, Deputy Director of the South Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center, along with government officials from Taiwan and the United States, attended and participated in the workshop. The training program was provided by the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) of Northern California.
On December 5th, a strong magnitude 7 earthquake hit the coast near Humboldt County in Northern California, with TV footage showing the various losses suffered by residents and businesses in the affected area, prompting residents of Northern California to once again focus on the preparation and measures needed to respond to earthquakes. California is located in a high seismic zone in the United States, and the activity of several earthquake zones in Northern California is particularly frequent. The training activity organized by the Taiwan School Association received enthusiastic responses from many members of the community.
President Lee Hanwen explained the reason for organizing the training event, stating that many students, teachers, and parents from local Taiwanese schools were involved. In the event of an earthquake, teachers need to know how to calmly direct students to evacuate and protect themselves, while parents need to educate their children on earthquake-related knowledge. These are all related to the safety of personnel at Taiwanese schools during earthquakes. Experts from the Community Emergency Response Team were able to provide training in these areas.
During the training activity, Council Member Batra of San Jose praised President Lee Hanwen for his efforts in upholding community safety, expressing gratitude to all participants in the training workshop for their care for the community and neighborhood. He emphasized that if we are prepared, the disasters caused by earthquakes can be minimized. He mentioned that the government of San Jose issued $615 million in local special bonds in 2018 to address various emergency situations caused by natural disasters.
Deputy Director Hsu Meifeng of the South Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center pointed out in her speech that as of September this year, Taiwan has established 114 emergency response teams worldwide, three of which are in Northern California. Commissioner Lee Hanwen is the founding president of the San Jose Emergency Relief Association. Deputy Director Hsu introduced the relevant measures adopted by the Overseas Community Affairs Commission for disaster response worldwide to the participating students. She also specifically discussed how to address gender harassment and crimes in the workplace and family environment.
Lee Steckmest, an expert from the San Jose Community Emergency Response Team, imparted to the participants in the training workshop the methods of responding to natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, and floods, as well as various preparations that should be made in advance.