After Typhoon Krathon severely ravaged Kaohsiung City, deficiencies in the city’s emergency reporting system became a focus of city councilors. Taiwan Statebuilding Party Councilor Chang Po-yang and DPP Councilor Chiu Chun-hsien said during the typhoon period, less than half of all emergency phone calls were connected to operators. In addition, the city had no online emergency reporting system, leading to complaints from the public. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai then promised he would ask tech companies to develop a high-tech disaster prevention system able to digest the huge amounts of data and information involved.
When Typhoon Krathon engulfed Kaohsiung, many of the city’s residents encountered disastrous situations. They dialed 1999 and asked for assistance from the government, but this was not always successful.
Chang Po-yang
Kaohsiung City Councilor (TSP)
There were 6,720 incoming calls to the 1999 hotline from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4, but only a little more than 3,000 were actually connected. What was even more ridiculous was that one caller had 38 people waiting before them. We are a nation that has typhoons practically every year, but our preparedness is nothing like a nation that has typhoons every year.
Chen Chi-mai
Kaohsiung Mayor
We’ve also reviewed the content of the calls to 1999. Most of them were asking if there would be a typhoon day off the following day, and some did report disastrous situations.
Roadside trees had collapsed, water and power had been cut off and iron sheets were flying everywhere. Emergency 1999 calls exploded, but more than a half of callers could not get connected and didn’t have anywhere else to turn to for help. One by one they flocked to city councilors, who commented that it’s laughable that Kaohsiung wanted to create a 5G smart city, but it could not even implement a notification system for preventing disasters.
Chiu Chun-hsien
Kaohsiung City Councilor (DPP)
Kaohsiung wants to promote itself as a 5GAIOT smart city, so maybe it can consider using ChatGPT’s AI response. The city government can use AI and big data technology so that there can be even more breakthroughs when it comes to our friends in the city reporting on disasters and search for information related to disaster management.
Chen Chi-mai
Kaohsiung Mayor
Our Research, Development and Evaluation Commission is also discussing how to make use of generative AI to assist us in our overall disaster response system and implementing tiered emergency controls.
Councilors also pointed out that schools used as shelters in the city’s disaster prevention and evacuation system had been severely impacted by this typhoon. The city government needed to reevaluate the relevant facilities at evacuation sites, including strengthening backup electricity generation.
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12 окт 2024
